Whedonesque : Comments on 13345 : When this thing gets moribund.

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June 01 2007

When this thing gets moribund. Another report from Joss at Wesleyan, in which he's asked "if we were ever going to find out how Book knows so much more than a Shepherd should about so many things". The phrasing of the answer is causing some debate.

Although few of the questions in the Q&A were Firefly-related, we did manage to corner him afterward and ask if we were ever going to find out how Book knows so much more than a Shepherd should about so many things.

Joss' answer: "Yes." He went on to explain that "when this thing gets moribund" the story would be continued, whether with the actors or in another medium.

The One True b!X | Firefly&Serenity | 03:47 CET | 51 comments total | tags: book, that's not a shepherd, quick everyone look up the word 'moribund' and chew on the possible meanings!

When WHAT becomes moribund?

For those who don't know, moribund means "a state of dying."

The Ninja Report | June 01, 04:10 CET

It can also mean "stagnant: not growing or changing; without force or vitality".

The One True b!X | June 01, 04:19 CET

I am shamed. I had to go look up moribund, it's been so long.

Hmmm, maybe he means when the questions about "When's Firefly going to be continued" die down, that's when it will continue in some form.

Tonya J | June 01, 04:29 CET

I'm not ashamed that I had to look up moribund. A little that I looked it up when the answer was in the next post.

Let's not get moribund. Keep that new Official Firefly/Serenity Merchandise coming. Serenity Collectors Edition! Serenity: Better Days Comics! Keep those Charity Serenity Screenings going. http://www.cantstoptheserenity.com/
June 2007 Goal: $100,000 for charity!

One of the Big Darn Heroes become a Big Darn Star. Or maybe lots of them. Yeah, that would work.

[ edited by Anonymous1 on 2007-06-01 01:56 ]

Anonymous1 | June 01, 04:50 CET

Inigo Montoya to Joss: "You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means."

Shiai | June 01, 05:32 CET

Okay! Everybody stop asking when Firefly will continue!

(I think there may be more to it than this...)

Craig Oxbrow | June 01, 05:33 CET

I heard indirectly about that comment after the panel - not specifically about the word "moribund," but the sense that - yes, Joss has the rest of the story about Book in his head but that he is holding his cards close to his chest for now.

I yearn for the day when Joss pushes his creative chips on the table and says, "All in!"

Zannadoo | June 01, 05:46 CET

It's kind of moot as to what "moribund" really means in this context, because "yes" is clear enough for me. I mean as long as you're not 85 or something and you don't have to worry about dying soon, all you need is patience.

TychoCelchuuu | June 01, 05:53 CET

I love trying to figure out Joss' arcane remarks, because that Joss, he is a puzzle, wrapped in a riddle, swaddled by an enigma. Er ....

[ edited by Tonya J on 2007-06-01 03:33 ]

Tonya J | June 01, 06:11 CET

I was just thinking this week how much I would love to learn Book's backstory! Apparently, not so unique.

Current fantasy: Book used to be like the Operative, but recoils from his own Alliance-sanctioned misdeeds following some My Lai-like massacre. His lone hope of redemption: To embrace the calling of . . .

Space Catholic. Or Space Something Celibacy-Swearing.

ETA correct spelling for what had been Book's "loan hope." Yup, just watched "Flooded."

[ edited by Pointy on 2007-06-01 03:59 ]

Pointy | June 01, 06:27 CET

Additional goal this week: Use "moribund" correctly in context.

WhoIsOmega? | June 01, 07:13 CET

"My attempts to build my vocabulary are no longer moribund."

Pointy | June 01, 07:20 CET

I hate to be moribund, myself, but I'm already at 20 years more than I ever expected to have, so I just hope I'll be around long enough to see at least one of the 'verses finish out their story...

Rowan Hawthorn | June 01, 07:21 CET

Space Catholic!

The One True b!X | June 01, 07:38 CET

Not to sound too dorky - oh, allright, I am dorky - but I did always think that Book was gonna turn out to be a little like Brother Cadfael. Ya know, a monk for many years, but in the military or police and sexually active before that... and, if not necessarily seeking redemption, then at least weary of the secular world and his role in it.

Space Catholic!

I'm quite fond of the word "moribund." I use it frequently to describe dead websites and blogs - but never my own self...

QuoterGal | June 01, 07:52 CET

Gonna go way out on a limb here and suggest the barest possibility that just perhaps, Joss might not have known the exact meaning of the word when he used it?

Ridiculous, I know. But within the realm of possibility nevertheless.

Anwyn | June 01, 08:05 CET

Oh, but I think his use of it makes perfect sense - if and when the possibility of a theatrical Serenifly is dead, then he will continue it in another medium - comics or such - and the story will be told.

It simply suggests that he (understandably) doesn't hold out a lotta hope of continuing the story theatrically, and thus he doesn't suggest that the story will be continued in that way.

But that hope must die completely before he continues the story in another medium.

Is my thinking...

QuoterGal | June 01, 09:13 CET

Hmmmm....I prefer this definition (from Cambridge Online Dictionary):

moribund:
adjective FORMAL DISAPPROVING (especially of an organization or business) not active or successful:How can the Trade Department be revived from its present moribund state?

Hmmmmm....

Revival.

It's a thought.

menomegirl | June 01, 09:15 CET

Was he pointing at his head when he said it?

[ edited by chrisD on 2007-06-01 07:06 ]

chrisd | June 01, 09:23 CET

Maybe it's code. Anyone know anyone named Maury Bundt?

The One True b!X | June 01, 09:32 CET

Book's mystery is kind of blatant, I think. And that many should want to know exactly what happened is only natural. I am one of them.

But I'd die to find out why Inara - who had her mind firmly set on the High Priestess post - sails the skies in a piece of lu su.

Please, Joss, give me more about that.

Harridan | June 01, 10:09 CET

Maybe it's code. Anyone know anyone named Maury Bundt?

"When this thing gets more Al Bundy"? I think I may have have cracked it. How much of a debt does the 'Verse owe to 'Married With Children'? I think we should be told.

Simon | June 01, 10:28 CET

Oops. There is a Maury Bundt, and they own, or did own, a horse named Stemwinder. So sayeth Google.

So perhaps Simon is the one who is on to something instead.

The One True b!X | June 01, 10:33 CET

Joss has always said (paraphrased) if this thing runs out of hope of a sequel and what not, he'd splurg the details somehow. Except Joss uses a fancy word like moribund and I use 'splurg'.

gossi | June 01, 11:20 CET

Beware the splurgossi!

The One True b!X | June 01, 11:35 CET

I'm having a flash back to "Knowing Me Knowing You with Alan Partridge".

"...now I looked up moribund in the dictionary..."

ZodKneelsFirst | June 01, 11:38 CET

So, Joss is basically saying it's not moribund yet ? Which is cast iron proof that there's a sequel in the works, probably due for release approximately tomorrow if not sooner !

And on that bombshell ... ;)

Saje | June 01, 13:49 CET

I think he's basically saying get lost (or something stronger, but I have no idea what censorship rules here say)

Pumps | June 01, 15:30 CET

Nah- he's saying that so long as we keep talking about it he won't write any more about it. Wait, that doesn't make sense...

Dana5140 | June 01, 15:40 CET

If that's really what you think Saje, then I suggest you get a knife and fork, and a plate, and put your words on the plate...

ZodKneelsFirst | June 01, 15:45 CET

Basically, I'm saying you're going to have to eat your words!

ZodKneelsFirst | June 01, 15:46 CET

Does that mean that in five minutes time, you're going to be strapped to a Wheel of Death ? Cos i'll get my plate ready in that case, maybe add a dash of humble pie ;).

I think he's basically saying get lost (or something stronger, but I have no idea what censorship rules here say)

I think they say "Fuck Off". Is OK to post I mean ;).

Saje | June 01, 16:41 CET

I consulted my internal Joss-speak translator and take it to mean that "this thing" is all the current balls that Joss has floating in the air (Buffy comics, Angel comics, Goners, time with family etc.)

So Joss is saying that WHEN all his current projects "die off" or get quieter, he will THEN continue with the Firefly story.
Hopefully not in a moribund way.

That is as long as he wasn't pointing at any parts of his anatomy when he put the comment out there.

Because THAT'S a different translation altogether!

missb | June 01, 18:28 CET

What I want to know is, was Joss wearing a cumberbund at the moment he said moribund? 'Cause universes collide and all that.

Tonya J | June 01, 19:23 CET

OT, but is fireflyfans.net ever going to lift its block on Telewest users?

Gag Halfrunt | June 01, 19:24 CET

So basically, when Joss' "balls" become moribund (possibly due to wearing a cummerbund) we'll find out if Book was actually a schwinehund ?

Saje | June 01, 20:35 CET

Wait, wait, wait - Book is Al Bundy?

QuoterGal | June 01, 20:51 CET

Saje - you so crazy.

QG - And Mal is secretly Peg? eek! - imagine Tightpants lifting off the Fillionesque face to reveal Peg's coif o' doom? Plus I inadvertently typed Tighpants the first time, proving there will be a BSG crossover during the supersecret webisode of Serenifly that reveals the Bundy connections! (Hey, Serenity appeared in BSG, so why not?)

[ edited by zeitgeist on 2007-06-01 17:55 ]

zeitgeist | June 01, 20:53 CET

No, Mal is a Cylon. Pass it on.

QuoterGal | June 01, 20:56 CET

Wow, zeitgeist, we both went for the BSG-connection at the same time. We must be Cylons. *checks self for wiring...*

QuoterGal | June 01, 20:59 CET

*hums 'All Along the Watchtower'...* oh, crap...!

zeitgeist | June 01, 21:02 CET

Schweinhund? Cummerbund. Moribund. Al Bundy. Ted Bundy. The Bundestadt. Enough! :-)

Dana5140 | June 01, 21:32 CET

Mmmm. Bundt cake. Nummy.

WhoIsOmega? | June 02, 00:15 CET

More Firefly any way I can get it... hell opera... Really - I'll wait as long as I have to for it.

R5

refuge5 | June 02, 01:51 CET

refuge5 we don't sign our posts here, your username at the bottom of your post takes care of that for you.

Simon | June 02, 01:53 CET

I've decided that you people are all very very strange and somehow wrong in the head.

No wonder I feel so at home.

lexigeek | June 02, 06:00 CET

Nathan already said Book was a landscaper. AND that was before Nathan became a gardener.

Anonymous1 | June 02, 06:44 CET

So Book in his youth was a cumberbund-wearing, Ty Pennington kind of sexy, tank-top wearing, space landscaper, but not a schwinehund?
That is such a relief.

Tonya J | June 02, 06:53 CET

Pointy wrote:

Space Catholic. Or Space Something Celibacy-Swearing.

I do like "Space Catholic." For "Space Something" I propose "Spanglican" or "Space Lutheran/Splutheran." Either would work as well as Spatholic--even with the celibacy thing.

[ edited by shinygroovyj on 2007-06-02 06:44 ]

[ edited by shinygroovyj on 2007-06-02 07:00 ]

shinygroovyj | June 02, 09:43 CET

Saje - you so crazy.

So the voices tell me ;).

And spanglican shinygroovyj ? LOL, love it ;).

Spunited reform ? Nope, that's just silly, spanglican is definitely king of the hill ;).

Saje | June 02, 15:47 CET

Spanglican does rule, shinygroovyj!

Pointy | June 02, 17:32 CET

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