Whedonesque : Comments on 17687 : Poll - Besides Mal, Who is Your Favorite Firefly Character?

I don't quite understand why the poll excludes Mal... is he really so popular that he would be chosen over the other crew members, a significant number of times? Hmm...

Knuckleball | September 25, 07:48 CET

I definitely would have chosen Mal! :D

Dan Corson | September 25, 07:54 CET

I'm a fan of Simon and Kaylee lol. Those were sure some great characters though... :(

EX | September 25, 08:02 CET

Oh, even with Mal in it, I'd always vote Jayne. :) One of my favorite Whedon characters. period. (And not just because of the hotness of Adam Baldwin. Honestly.)

cabri | September 25, 08:02 CET

For me, it would always be Wash or Kaylee. Mal would come just behind those two in my affections. Hard to choose between them, though.

Kiddo | September 25, 08:08 CET

That's easy, Kaylee every time. :D

Djungelurban | September 25, 08:35 CET

This is a tough one. Every character is great but it is the interaction between them that realy lifts them. Like: Without the tention between Mal and Inara both characters would lack a facet. Same with Wash and Zoe and Simon and River. Then we have Book and Kaylee who in a way lifts everyone, either by being cheerfull and bringing out the tender sides of people or by bringing forth their moral sides.

But in the end I choose Kaylee. 'Cos, you know... couldent resist ; )

Satai (with Punsch) | September 25, 08:53 CET

Wash! Definitely. Joss always kills my favorites :-(

ShanshuBugaboo | September 25, 09:12 CET

Poor Book! :-( Not gettin' much love.

RobinInSeoul | September 25, 09:14 CET

River, no contest. And I'm surprised I'm the only poster, so far. A lot of my choice has to do with Serenity, not just Firefly, but the character is the character, & River is one of the most marvelous and unique of Joss's creations, brought to life with awesome perfection by the incomparable Summer Glau.

Shey | September 25, 09:14 CET

My favourites are everyone else's least favourites, apparently... Simon and Book. ;)

Enisy | September 25, 09:44 CET

Book, Book, Book, Book, Book, Book, Book.

And Kaylee.

And Book.

Ghalev | September 25, 09:51 CET

Simon is awesome. Sean Maher all the way!

Donnie | September 25, 09:53 CET

River - she is the reason why I love Serenity and Shey said the rest.

"I can kill you with my brain."

moley75 | September 25, 09:59 CET

Ditto Knuckleball's comment about the "besides Mal" thing...

Anyway, River all the way for me. Riiiiivvvvvver. The whole Simon/River relationship was so touching... that moment in Safe, when he says "light it" is just so powerful for me. So it's the River/Simon relationship that really does it. But even without that relationship, her character is just so exceptional. That shot in Objects in Space with the gun amongst the leaves -- I'll never forget that shot. It's all just such incredible imagery, and it's always with River.

[ edited by MattK on 2008-09-25 11:20 ]

MattK | September 25, 11:17 CET

Perhaps the question should be "Who WAS your favorite character?"

(Since mine bit the big one, cinema style.)

missb | September 25, 11:35 CET

River, probably. I really love Wash, too. Honestly though, I haven't watched the show in a while, so this may change once I do.

I really think Simon would've become my favourite if the show had gone long enough. You could see he was being set up for a fantastic, Wesley-ish arc.

Racoon Boy | September 25, 11:59 CET

Jayne! Hunky man of eh... man meat. Oh, whatever. I'll be in my bunk.

kaiuno | September 25, 12:28 CET

River is definitely my fave. Maybe it's because I kind of want to be her. Except for the multiple brain surgeries by Alliance ghouls, of course.

In the episode where Simon and River are captured by the backwoods people so they can have a doctor - River's enjoyment of dancing (pre-capture) was just so beautiful.

So that's it ... River.

best_hair_ever | September 25, 12:29 CET

Hell, i'm a fan of all ~~seven~~ nine ;).

(but Wash was my fave anyway - including Mal - even if they're all great characters and the show wouldn't have been as good with any of them missing)

Saje | September 25, 12:37 CET

No way I could decide. Wash, maybe. But no one was voting for Book, so I decided to show him some love. How could a Firefly fan not want to vote for the underdog?

theclynn | September 25, 12:40 CET

Wash. Alan Tudyk was one of the reasons I started watching the show in the first place, and still remains my favorite.

deepgirl187 | September 25, 12:47 CET

I too love all characters. In terms of characters dynamics, I always loved River/Simon. They share some of the greatest scenes in the show and the movie. But the single character that was always closest to me, was Wash. He was the one I by far identified most with. But then I also really liked Kaylee, because she's the girl I'd be head-over-heels in love with, had I been on that ship, so she's a very close second. All in all, a great bunch of characters.

GVH | September 25, 12:51 CET

Ye, I voted for Book as well. Partially because of what I thought his character could have become given a longer time.

Lioness | September 25, 12:55 CET

I'll be contrarian and say YoSaffBridge.

Chris inVirginia | September 25, 13:21 CET

Tough choice, but I have to say Simon :)

Nico-Angel | September 25, 13:32 CET

Good choice.

Simon | September 25, 13:33 CET

I'm the first to say Zoe? Loved them all, but her combination of badass and tender really got me. Her arc is the one I'm sorriest not to get to see.

catherine | September 25, 13:39 CET

Book, for the same reason as Lioness -- the mystery surrounding his background had the most potential to develop into a really fleshed out back-story that would reveal a complex character. Plus, Ron Glass is cool.

SteveP | September 25, 13:47 CET

Joss did such a superb job selecting the cast, it's difficult to choose because each character has their own loveable characteristics. Also, the character interactions (Mal and Inara, Mal and Zoe, Wash and Zoe, Simon and River, Simon and Kaylee, Mal and Kaylee) tend to define each character just as much as if there were judged by themselves.

Anyway, I'm going to say Inara because I fancy Morena Baccarin to bits. I watched Serenity before Firefly and I have to admit, I was curious about the relationship between Mal and Inara (which didn't quite understand in the film) that made me go back to watch Firefly - which for me acted as a prequel. In Serenity (the pilot), I thought she left the ship because she was having an affair - not knowing that she was a Companion. I thought, "oh you bi-atch".

Anyway, I love the way Inara rolls her eyes when the other cast say or do something dumb (Mal: "This distress doesn't happen to be in someones pants, does it?" and Jayne: smirking at Inara when she kissed the Counsellor goodbye).

I do like Wash and Book though. We're going to have to convince Joss to clone the pair of them for the sequel otherwise it will have to be a prequel/sequel!

My favourite "bad guy" was Jubal Early. Does that seem right to you?

[ edited by shinyscouser on 2008-09-25 13:56 ]

shinyscouser | September 25, 13:55 CET

Mal. He's just one of my favorite characters of all time. I don't think I could adequately describe how much I love him. As soon as he pulls out his gun and shoots the Alliance Mole in the face...I've just never looked back.

MySerenity | September 25, 14:03 CET

I wouldn't have chosen Mal.
Kaylee FTW!

I love them all, but Kaylee is definitely my favorite.

Then second place would be a tie: Mal / River / Jayne
And then the others, very very close...

maxsummers | September 25, 14:22 CET

River, no question.
Then would come Wash and Kaylee. And the others, not so far behind.

brown_h | September 25, 14:29 CET

Wash. And it still hurts.

MysticSlug | September 25, 14:35 CET

It's always Mal, so I'm glad they excluded him. I'd say my choice is either River or Kaylee.

patxshand | September 25, 14:39 CET

Mal is the best. With Mal out, I picked Jayne.

Rikardo | September 25, 14:54 CET

How about Serenity? She's quite a character herself.

I couldn't pluck one out of the group--their interactions are the heart of the show. Losing any of them ~~would leave~~ left a huge gap in the crew.

jcs | September 25, 15:01 CET

I'm a Book man myself. He doesn't seem to be doing so well. :(

Succatash | September 25, 15:15 CET

Jayne, today, yesterday and always!

Spikeslady | September 25, 15:16 CET

Truthfully, my first instinct is to say Jayne, hands down. But the more I think about it, the more I realize it's pretty much Simon.

The thing I love about Simon so much is that while he is pretty uptight and proper and at times amazingly, stunningly socially awkward, Simon has a ruthless streak in him that, when brought out, makes him probably one of the more dangerous people on board Serenity. The glimpses we saw of this (him threatening not to treat Kaylee if Mal didn't turn the ship and run, him staring down his father in "Safe," him coming up with the Ariel heist--and then later giving that magnificent set-down to the Fed, and, my favorite (until the movie, that is) the way he threatened Jayne by telling Jayne that he'd never hurt him) absolutely convinced me that Simon was one of those characters who would have just gone to amazing places, had the series not ended so soon like it did.

The BDM pretty much set this in stone for me. The way he impersonated an Alliance official, actually seemed to enjoy making Dr. Mathias nervous...that was awesome and really made me take a long and hard look at his character.

Simon is one of those people whose isn't going to throw the first punch, if he can help it, but when he sets out to do something (especially if it involves helping River), God help whoever gets in his way.

I realize that he can be tactless, and slightly condescending at times (usually not on purpose, unless it's Jayne, who, lets be honest here, has never gone out of his way to be nice either), but when I weight those against everything else about his character, I still think that Simon is pretty much amazing.

[ edited by HowlingLupe on 2008-09-25 15:21 ]

HowlingLupe | September 25, 15:19 CET

Poor Simon. He's fairing so poorly. I love him so much. I think he's one of the characters that drew the short stick on development due to the cancellation and all that though. Personally, what I think was there was fine. There was a lot of development for him but he never really got the spotlight like other characters and for this reason he goes unnoticed a lot. If you look at what was there and then think about how Joss develops characters then there's no doubt in my mind that Simon would have become a near Wesley-like character of epic development proportions. 'Tis a shame.

The Xan Man | September 25, 15:48 CET

I think shinyscouser is right (what's a scouser, btw?)... it's the interaction of the characters that makes them who they are to a certain degree, and so it's hard to separate them out. A more interesting topic might be, which relationship was your favorite? Then I'd be really torn... Simon / River would be right up there, but Mal / Zoe was definitely a favorite too, as well as Mal / Kaylee. I think Mal's strength for me lay in his unique and particular relationships to every member of his crew, as each of those relationships revealed a different Mal to us.

AND totally agree with Xan Man (though I'd never thought of it in those terms before) that Simon had the potential for a Wesley-like arc, and the chops to pull it off too. Such steel in his spine, though we got only glimpses of it. Oh this is a painful subject!!!!

ETA: eep, just realized that I'm one exclamation mark short of insanity (according to Terry Pratchett according to embers). Better watch that. Plus, if Quotergal were here she would no doubt disapprove of such wasteful exclamatory excess, and I would hate to make her frown or raise a derisory eyebrow. From here on, I will be terse and unexcitable.

[ edited by catherine on 2008-09-25 16:00 ]

catherine | September 25, 15:58 CET

Simon is last? :(

Sunfire | September 25, 15:58 CET

catherine, I'm with you on the Zoe love.

m'cookies actual | September 25, 15:59 CET

I'm having problems with the poll. They were intertwined with each other. Wash + Zoe + Malcom + Inara + Kaylee + Simon + River + Book + Jayne. A chart showing the stronger interactions between characters would look like a knot.

Because I'm all about the story, I can't pick one over another. Take one away and you lose a part of the story.

TheGamut | September 25, 16:09 CET

Jayne. It's not a hunky thing or a badass thing. He makes me laugh, which has always been the way to my heart. Thanks. I'll be in my bunk.

I am adding a Book vote for my husband who does not have an account.

caring hands | September 25, 16:17 CET

I picked Jayne for the laughs too, but the hotness didn't hurt either. "Badass" is almost never a factor in liking a character on TV anymore, badasses are a dime a dozen. They have to have something else to 'em, so if they're especially well-written or bring the humor, that helps.

Racoon Boy said:
"I really think Simon would've become my favourite if the show had gone long enough. You could see he was being set up for a fantastic, Wesley-ish arc."

I thought that too. Simon and River's story in the show was probably the one I was most interested in, while still being intrigued by the potential of the backstories for Book & Inara and loving the "core" crew pretty hard too.

Sad to see Simon at the bottom. Behind Book and Inara ? Really ? Sometimes I think fans don't give him as much regard because he didn't have as many funny lines and didn't have a thing, a schtick or something, like most of the other characters did. He was very much the straight man to the rest of the crew's oddball or action hero or comedian behaviours.

I would've picked Simon while watching the series (for a lot of great feature moments and episodes for his character including "Safe", "Ariel", and "Objects in Space"), but Jayne wins out nowadays...

Kris | September 25, 17:09 CET

What? We can't choose Mal??

Ug! Well, I really liked Simon because actually he is a lot like Mal. Only better dressed. (And with better eyebrows. Seriously.) But Jayne has the best lines ever. I loved Zoe for being comfortable with who she was, enough so that she married Wash. Wash is the most like me, except that he's a guy. But River got the coolest things to say. And who doesn't love Kaylee? I liked Inara for giving Mal back what he gave her. And she had the coolest cloths. ;)But Book. Book is my second favorite Firefly character. So much about his was unexpected. He's obviously smart, but he's funny too. And not just a reformed sinner trying to make amends. And I just love him to bits.

NYPinTA | September 25, 17:19 CET

River, because she is made out of chocolate.

The One True b!X | September 25, 17:23 CET

This is impossible to answer.

Nolan | September 25, 17:41 CET

River and Inara for me.

Ameer | September 25, 17:44 CET

Wash. Definitely Wash.

mouse | September 25, 17:44 CET

River, because she is made out of chocolate.

Ha ha :)

And NYPinTA you are SO RIGHT about Sean Maher's eyebrows. I'm glad somebody mentioned that. God, I loved his eyebrows. He and Olivia Williams should have babies--the eyebrows of their off-spring would be so incredible, the universe might just explode. So come to think of it, they probably shouldn't have babies. I like the universe the way it is (unexploded).

Earlier I mentioned that Zoe's arc was the one I was most gutted not to see, but as for backstory, SO CURIOUS about Inara, and also, of course, Book.

catherine | September 25, 18:03 CET

Mal... always Mal. I can't help myself... I just love him, even if other characters are more interesting or more whatever. Firefly is a show where I can't even separate 'favourite' and 'best' if I try, since they're all such well-written characters.

But after him... probably River. Although I'm more like Kaylee... should I hasten to add that this is because I'm a female engineer (sorta), not because I like discussing battery-operated things in public?

skittledog | September 25, 18:16 CET

I think Simon's last in the poll because people who really like Simon, like Simon because of the Simon/River relationship, and hence probably voted for River in the poll. At least, that's what I did. Because after River, I probably would've voted for Simon next, because the way he sacrificed so much, without having lingering resentment or doubts, I just find very inspiring.

That's my theory anyway.

[ edited by MattK on 2008-09-25 18:24 ]

MattK | September 25, 18:24 CET

Kaylee for me.

Dana5140 | September 25, 18:55 CET

Catherine asked;

what's a scouser, btw?

Scouse is the name of the distinct dialect spoken by Liverpudlians (i.e. people from Liverpool, England) or colloquially referred to as Scousers. Wikipedia gives quite a good description of where and how the name originated.

I think there's another "Whedonesquer" here who's also a fellow Scouser and goes by the name of Gossi.

shinyscouser | September 25, 19:04 CET

I'm very disappointed Simon ranks so low. He's always been my favorite. I even named my cat after him.

geekerjoy34 | September 25, 20:02 CET

I love me a warrior-goddess.

Zoe all the way.

kazzmere | September 25, 20:06 CET

Well I don't think I can claim to learn something new every day, but at least I did today! Thankee, shinyscouser.

catherine | September 25, 20:10 CET

River. So many great moments and in so many different emotional registers.

shambleau | September 25, 21:35 CET

Well, Mal has always been my favorite. His emotional journey was riveting to me. But Wash was a close second. I guess I have a soft spot for loveable goofballs.

JossIzBoss | September 25, 22:30 CET

No contest...A Man Called Jayne!

magnus carnage | September 26, 00:51 CET

Even counting Mal, Wash would be my favorite. Ah, I loved that man. Probably because he was almost exactly like me.

UnpluggedCrazy | September 26, 01:08 CET

Jayne had me from "Pain is scary."

JesterInACast | September 26, 02:07 CET

Yeah, UnpluggedCrazy. Or well, possibly, in my case, he's most like the person I like to think I am.

As for Jayne, he was often the most amusing character there and a very intriguing one to boot, even if many of his reactions are very close to base. The part in Serenity, where he's willing to offer up his life for something bigger than himself, or when he asks Mal not to tell the rest of the crew he betrayed Simon and River... it's those traits - and other small moments - that make him so great and more than just the token dumb bully guy (is there such a thing as a token dumb bully guy?).

Really, I love all the characters on Firefly, so to make any distinction - like I said upthread - is hard. I guess in Jayne's case, he is the person I'd probably least want to be around in actual life, with the aptitude for betrayal if large amounts of money are involved and all, which is why I tend to put him lower in a poll such as this one. On the other hand, I think I'm often most amused at his contributions (and more often than not, he is the character people who I've seen watching Firefly for the first time, react the most to). My point? None whatsoever, apart from 'me like Jayne'. So move along, nothing to see here ;).

GVH | September 26, 02:28 CET

It was hard,but I chose River in the end. Simon is a pretty close choice,but in the end I chose River cause she's just too awesome.

okelay | September 26, 02:40 CET

GVH: "...(is there such a thing as a token dumb bully guy?)."

There is now.

NYPinTA | September 26, 04:35 CET

Sorry for the double post, but I forgot to say something important: I change my vote. My favorite character of all time on Firefly and later in the Big Damn Movie called Serenity besides Mal (although Mal wasn't my favorite characther in the movie...) is Serenity herself. I don't know why I didn't realize this before, but it was Serenity that got me hooked on the show. I saw it during it's original zig-zagging run on FOX from the very first episode The Train Job. I didn't want to like the show. I was actually trying not to because my broken & totally illogical heart had me convinced that liking anything in the Friday-at-8:00 timeslot (that started with an "F" to boot!) was a sin against my late lammented Farscape. (Did it matter they were on two completely different channels and had absolutely nothing to do with each other? Pfft. No.) So there I was trying not to be a traitor and then the show started... First it was the song that softened me up. Then some guy that looked kind of familiar ordered a drink in Chinese. And then some other guy that was VERY familiar wouldn't help his buddies in a fun bar brawl. Well, I was enjoying myself. It was fun! And well put together with smart ... things... like the holographic windows and how old and worn the enviroment felt, like it had actually been lived in... and then they were on the cliff and Serenity rose up behind them and I just fell in love with that treacherous show. So, I officially change my vote to Serenity.

I can do that, right?

[ edited by NYPinTA on 2008-09-26 04:44 ]

NYPinTA | September 26, 04:42 CET

But Serenity doesn't have awesome eyebrows...

catherine | September 26, 06:15 CET

No... but... you could always paint them on.

GVH | September 26, 09:38 CET

Don't let Kaylee hear you say that.

And besides; isn't Serenity designed to look something like a horse? Wouldn't a horse look silly with eyebrows?

Eyelashes, on the other hand...

Grotesk | September 26, 14:10 CET

September 25 2008