Nathan delivering that line, truly amazing.
Anyhow the usual Whedon and Minear commentary from Cinefantastique.
Joss
There was that run of the last bunch where it felt like we were firing on all cylinders. I loved the Zoe-Wash relationship. You know, that was the sticking point at the very end of picking-up process. The studio said, “They can’t be married,” and that’s when I said, “I don’t want you to pick up the show.”
....
They said, “We’re thinking of picking up the show because we read “The Train Job” and we see the potential, but we don’t want the characters married, it interferes with romantic entanglements.” It was just a nightmare experience. I said, “I’m not making Melrose Space. I want to see a marriage. I’ve got a preacher on board, I’ve got a young girl who’s a schizophrenic - I’ve got aspects of life. That’s there for a reason and marriage is one of them.” And what was great in “War Stories” was being able to play the conflict of the marriage without making it whiney and insufferable. They’re both incredibly charming and funny during that, and then to play that out during a torture scene... really examine the issues as a way of trying to deal with being tortured...well, juxtaposition is pretty much the benchmark of my career and it doesn’t get any bigger than that.
....
They said, “We’re thinking of picking up the show because we read “The Train Job” and we see the potential, but we don’t want the characters married, it interferes with romantic entanglements.” It was just a nightmare experience. I said, “I’m not making Melrose Space. I want to see a marriage. I’ve got a preacher on board, I’ve got a young girl who’s a schizophrenic - I’ve got aspects of life. That’s there for a reason and marriage is one of them.” And what was great in “War Stories” was being able to play the conflict of the marriage without making it whiney and insufferable. They’re both incredibly charming and funny during that, and then to play that out during a torture scene... really examine the issues as a way of trying to deal with being tortured...well, juxtaposition is pretty much the benchmark of my career and it doesn’t get any bigger than that.
Tim
We brought back Niska from “The Train Job.” This was another late script that we had to sort of pitch in on at the end of the day. I remember Joss wrote the teaser and the first act and it was a really long teaser. I remember looking at the cut and saying, “The teaser’s kind of boring with all of these people talking. What if we move this into the teaser and made this the first scene of act one and dropped this all together?” He totally went for it. And in the interrogation scene where Mal and Wash are being tortured, I took a pass at that and was trying to write Wash as sort of Woody Allen. We talked about the idea that they’re being tortured, but they should totally be having a conversation about Zoe and about this unmentioned jealousy that Wash might have because Zoe is so close to Mal. What I liked about that scene is that instead of just making that a gag, it was a way for Mal to keep Wash from dying; he made him so angry that he couldn’t pay attention to the torture. Once again, giant production values and nothing is cooler than Gina Torres taking Nathan Fillon’s ear and putting it in her shirt.
One of the things I love about this episode is that the quote from Shan Yu precisely describes Joss' approach to his characters: he holds them upside down over the volcano, and the viewers get to see the real them.
tehipite_tom | October 01, 01:51 CET
Danica | October 01, 01:55 CET
And then there's River shooting three bad guys. Without looking.
zz9 | October 01, 02:04 CET
I loved how Zoe immediately picked Wash without a moments hesitation, River's "doing the math" and shooting those guys, Shepard's comment to Simon that he still hasn't shot anyone, Jayne's "I'll be in my bunk" and Mal's "You want to meet the real me now" are all classics. And the whole ending with Mal and Zoe teasing Wash with the whole "Take me sir, take me now" bit and the look on Jayne's face coming in on it! Adam Baldwin is so great with his expressions, just looking at him cracks me up in any of the scenes because you can literally read the characters mind.
Firefly Flanatic | October 01, 02:27 CET
TheZeppo | October 01, 02:29 CET
And as a whole, War Stories is probably my favorite episode. For all the reasons mentioned above and possibly below.
Okkay | October 01, 02:48 CET
Great Wash line: "That was the torture talking!"
Chris inVirginia | October 01, 03:00 CET
I see this episode as a great character moemnt for everyone. There was no character that left the episode, without at least two great moment each. And Niska was back, as I've stated before, he's just sadisticaly dilightful.
It's hard to pick between this episode and "Objects in Space" as my second favorite episode in the series. These are hard choices to make.
Numfar PTB | October 01, 03:06 CET
"What this marriage needs is one less husband!"
Haunt | October 01, 03:13 CET
Oh yeah! Leonard Roberts!
[ edited by Illyria on 2005-10-01 01:37 ]
Illyria | October 01, 03:34 CET
Tiny Tabby | October 01, 03:49 CET
I actually posted that a week or two ago.
vampire dan | October 01, 03:54 CET
Illyria | October 01, 04:05 CET
And "grenades are extra".
This episode is really a turning point for Wash as a character also. He is not usually this deep in the action and is really surprised at how dangerous things can get and I think this really opened his eyes. I think it even impacts his flying in "The Message" (different from the calm of "Serenity"), because the trauma is still fresh in his mind.
Also, Kaylee's reaction to River killing the bad guys upset me. Clearly River knew Kaylee was in trouble and she knew she could help. Kaylee took it as "she's a loose cannon and she's out of control". But I guess it was necessary to kind of drive that wedge between them so that the reconciliation at the end of "Objects in Space" would be so great. And I guess I really hate to see Kaylee upset or worried. That Joss. He's contagious!
I'm with Numfar_PTB on this one. It's hard to put them in a favorites order because they are all so great. "Out of Gas" is far and away my favorite, but I'm beginning to think my second favorite is whatever episode I'm watching! Someday I'm going to sit down and make that list.
Edited to add: "You died, Mr. Reynolds." "Seemed like the thing to do."
Now Mal has died and has been brought back.
[ edited by brownishcoat on 2005-10-01 05:04 ]
brownishcoat | October 01, 07:01 CET
newcj | October 01, 07:43 CET
I guess I was just thinking that after "Ariel" and Simon's discoveries of the brain surgery, etc. that the crew would be starting to realize the complexity of what the Alliance had been up to. And how it was just the tip of the iceburg.
brownishcoat | October 01, 08:01 CET
I did really like this episode, seeing Niska again was a nice way of seeing how they had begun to develop the 'verse and make use of continuity, the attack on Niska's space station was also very impressive, and revealed a lot about the characters.
It was great to see Wash and Zoe act as an efficient, danergous force with Jayne, showing how Wash is much more than the comic relief. Also interesting that Book was quite proficient, Simon meant well but just couldn't get the job done, and poor Kaylee was terrified. Also suprising to see River's powers and nice to see her protecting Kaylee.
Razor | October 01, 22:00 CET