Not just a spoiler, a rather comprehensive summary with some excellent side-long commentary.

I think the writer's interpretation is quite good, if not complete. Some very interesting details that I did't catch were provided, which was nice.

Thanks for posting, eddy.

Chris inVirginia | July 16, 22:49 CET

Can't comment over there, becos it's Livejournal users only. So, well, here:

The story is tweaked from what has been told/implied in canon and interviews. The changes are primarily that man left earth voluntarily due to a lack of resources and not because the planet went away.

I'm confused. Where was it ever told/implied that the planet went away altogether? "Earth-That-Was" could mean any number of things.

River's trigger is Miranda.

No, this makes no sense. The Alliance would not implant a trigger that referenced one of their greatest secrets. It's just that the trigger, whatever it was, has the unintended side-effect of making River remember what she psychically gleaned from high-ranking members of Parliament.

On a meta note, Mr. U is we, the fans. Going back to Joss' intro, he was not stingy in praising the contributions of fans at conventions and on the internet, for buying and pimping the DVD. We kept the signal moving, much like Mr. Universe takes it all in and keeps the important stuff going.

I don't think this is it at all. Mr. Universe is (intentional pun or not) Universal Pictures, for agreeing to pick up the secret story that few people had ever seen.

The real "like it or not" is that its the Reavers who represent the fans, who when faced with an Alliance (FOX) which simply wanted people to sit down, shut up, and behave (you don't want "Firefly" you want pablum), reacted very unlike the way they had intended.

The crew equals those who made "Firefly". The Reavers equal those who didn't stand for FOX's lack of support for anything other than the normal. Mr. Universe equals the distribution channels of the movie studio which agreed to do the right thing after FOX (the Alliance) did the wrong thing.

The One True b!X | July 16, 22:58 CET

All due respect, theonetruebix, but there are many different interpretations of the film. ;)

orphea | July 16, 23:11 CET

But...I thought we were Browncoats? I liked the reference to Mr Universe as Universal Pictures, man that is so spot on.

nixygirl | July 16, 23:14 CET

All due respect, theonetruebix, but there are many different interpretations of the film.

And?

The One True b!X | July 17, 02:21 CET

"And" you appeared to be saying the author's interpretation is incorrect, with phrases like "no" and "wrong." Excuse me if I misread your intent.

orphea | July 17, 02:26 CET

The author themselves made declaratory statements, without bothering to couch them all in burdensome and annoying terms like "I think" or "maybe" (an approach to writing I agree with, for whatever it's worth). I was just doing the same.

[ edited by theonetruebix on 2005-07-17 01:49 ]

[ edited by theonetruebix on 2005-07-17 01:49 ]

The One True b!X | July 17, 03:48 CET

Because that's the way to engage in a civil discourse. Schoolyard rules always help in elevating the converstion.

ringworm | July 17, 04:50 CET

theonetruebix said:
I'm confused. Where was it ever told/implied that the planet went away altogether? "Earth-That-Was" could mean any number of things.

All we got verbally from the series was that the "Earth got used up". Visually, I believe there was a shadow puppet/presentation at the function that Mal and Inara attended in "Heart of Gold" when they've gone to speak to Rance Burgess. The shadow play seemed to show ships leaving Earth, same as the the prologue in Serenity does.

You're right, the essayist was mistaken in thinking this part of canon was changed. The film's explanation not only fits in with what was established in Firefly, it gives us clearer visual representation of it and clarifies a bit better with River's teacher's words.

As far as I can see, nothing was tweaked for the film. Plotlines weren't addressed, sure. Blue Sun is nowhere in sight, but that doesn't mean the corporation is now nonexistent in the Firefly/Serenity universe or that it doesn't have influences in the Alliance. It was simply a convention of the TV series that was intended to show up in hints and wink-&-nods to the keen-eyed fan, maybe it would've lead somewhere eventually. It wouldn't work for the movie though. And I can't think of anything that was dropped entirely either. Just my personal opinion, but if the story Joss hammered out with Brett Matthews turns out well in the 3-issue Serenity comic book, I might end up feeling that the Blue Gloves will have been satisfactorily dealt with. They could just be part of the endless number of agents that the Alliance higher-ups would've sent after River. Perhaps the Blue Gloves will fail completely in the comic, the Alliance will receive confirmation of that, and that's what prompts them to call on The Operative.

Kris | July 17, 13:26 CET

Theres a Blue Sun logo on a bottle Jayne has in the movie apparently. I haven't seen it cause I only saw the movie once but others saw it.

eddy | July 17, 13:49 CET

Hi, I just received posting permission. My apologies about the "LJ Users Only" requirement on my journal. There have been instances of spam on LJ and one way of controlling it is to disallow anonymous comments.

theonetruebix said:
I'm confused. Where was it ever told/implied that the planet went away altogether? "Earth-That-Was" could mean any number of things.

As Kris responded, my interpretation is rooted in the shadow play during Heart of Gold. Before the episode aired in the US, I saw the portion of the shooting script describing the scene,

http://www.fireflywiki.org/Firefly/Earth-that-was

Unfortunately there is a scratch on my DVD, and I was unable to get HoG to play last night. A friend reviewed it with me on IM, and as I understand it, the play was pushed to the background of the scene and the full intent of the script may not have played out for the viewer.

I can see Kris' point that the teacher not mentioning Earth-that-was being destroyed is not a change to canon. It was a point that I was interested in because it plays a part in a crossover fic that I'm in the middle of posting.

I agree that I could have stated River's association with Miranda better; however, I believe that Simon also refers to it as a trigger even though, it is an unintentional side effect.

*Grin* I think there can be many interpretations of Mr. U and the Reavers. I gave mine, and I'm sticking to it. Although, if I were to fit Universal Pictures into my theory, it would be the transmitter itself -- bizarrly laid out and really hard to reach. Just as likely to kill you as to help you.

[ edited by justhuman on 2005-07-17 18:52 ]

justhuman | July 17, 20:29 CET

theontruebix said:

The author themselves made declaratory statements, without bothering to couch them all in burdensome and annoying terms like "I think" or "maybe" (an approach to writing I agree with, for whatever it's worth). I was just doing the same.

Well, not exactly...seeing as how it was the author's essay and thus his or her own words, it's obvious that he or she "thinks" the declarative things in the essay are correct...in his or her opinion, which hardly needed be noted. He or she wasn't negating other interpretations, just giving his or her own.

[ edited by Chris inVirginia on 2005-07-17 20:10 ]

Chris inVirginia | July 17, 20:50 CET

mr universe is a referance to bc's(maybe)--I don't THINK that its a ref to universal,he wrote the script BEFORE uni picked it up.

nakedandarticulate | July 21, 20:56 CET