Could the Firefly Universe Exist?
"The chances of finding five stars each orbited by a brown dwarf would be about 1 in 3 million" (video)
SciShow's Reid Reimers discusses Firefly's complicated star system.
July 30 2015
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brinderwalt | July 30, 13:45 CET
Simon | July 30, 14:07 CET
I remember the discussions prior to Serenity being released, we were not even sure if our BDH's travels were intra or interstellar. I don't remember anything from the series or movie or commentary on either one, that would have suggested a multistar system.
Joss's treatment of interplanetary travel in the movie seemed very static as if the planets were laid out in a fixed and unchanging cartography. We do know that humanity in the Firefly verse had at least a limited ability to impose artificial gravity.
So it is conceivable that the human race could just lay out stars and planets in the system as desired and then nullify the natural gravitational effects, so that everything would stay in place.
RobynH | July 30, 18:06 CET
So yeah, 1 in 3 million seems pretty easy to find....
Haven't watched the video yet, but as far as the show was concerned it's always been implied that there is one system. But even before the board game there was definite talk of there needing to be a binary system at least. I've not done the calculations myself (nor likely could I), but storytelling-wise it makes sense to me that there is one star, one system. The terms "core planets" and "outer planets" don't make much sense otherwise. It's much neater for the narrative. Gravity works on spaceships, and beyond that it even works when they're so out of power that the life support fails, the logical layout of the stars is of little consequence.
[ edited by bobw1o on 2015-07-31 07:54 ]
bobw1o | July 30, 22:54 CET
Eerikki | July 31, 00:56 CET
http://pluto.jhuapl.edu/Multimedia/Science-Photos/image.php?gallery_id=2&image_id=262
Phoebes | July 31, 01:19 CET
I personally employ a hierarchy of canon similar to that the Holocron apparently sets out for the whole Star Wars universe: absolute canon of what is seen directly in the episodes, film, session 416, and comics; production materials like the screenplays, blu-ray and DVD extras, commentaries, props, interviews with cast and crew; QMx and other licensed works, including FFO (but not including the film novelization, for reasons). If something in a lower tier contradicts something of the higher tier, such as some minor contradictions in the layout of the ship, than the higher tier wins out. Buuuuut, since there isn't much information about the actual structure of the universe in the episodes, QMx is the most canon we got, and it's more of a pseudo-canon? And since FFO maps are based off TVIN and The Official Map of the Verse, I guess it's also a psuedo-canon and so that quote from Gore applies to it also, in my opinion.
TenTonParasol | July 31, 03:57 CET
AndrewCrossett | July 31, 05:23 CET
KissingToast | July 31, 05:48 CET
Anonymous1 | August 01, 08:48 CET