Firefly (TV series)/WMG: Difference between revisions

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== In fact, the entire Verse is the same as that of ''[[Cowboy Bebop]]''. ==

Both are [[Space Western]] shows about a [[Badass Crew]] of outlaws travelling the solar system on a [[What a Piece of Junk|sturdy and dependable bucket of bolts]], and society is a weird mishmash of different cultures [[Schizo Tech|and time periods.]] Admit it, [[So Cool Its Awesome|this is so cool it has to be true.]]

Both are [[Space Western]] shows about a [[Badass Crew]] of outlaws travelling the solar system on a [[What a Piece of Junk!|sturdy and dependable bucket of bolts]], and society is a weird mishmash of different cultures [[Schizo-Tech|and time periods.]] Admit it, [[So Cool Its Awesome|this is so cool it has to be true.]]

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** The impression I got from the series and movie is that while Jayne is quite intelligent, he's extremely poorly educated.

** I don't think he's all that smart. I think he's just well-rounded in the areas where he has a lot of experience, but definitely not stupid, just ignorant.

*** Mind that this troper(the one that believes Jayne is poorly educated) subscribes to [~~http://en.~~wikipedia~~.org/wiki/Theory_of_multiple_intelligences~~ the theory of multiple intelligences], and believes that intelligence shows itself in different ways. Jayne's aptitude is more in line with firearms and combat and likely has a more bodily-kinesthetic inclination than the rest of the crew. Mind you, I'm not saying he's a [[Genius Ditz]] or anything, just saying that he's more intelligent than his crude nature and lack of any sort of formal education lets on. Not as smart as Simon, Book, Inara, or Kaylee(in no particular order), but on a comparable level to Mal, Zoe, and Wash. He just has the rotten luck of having the least amount of schooling for anyone on the crew, which is why his competence only shows in his areas of experience; fighting.

*** Mind that this troper(the one that believes Jayne is poorly educated) subscribes to [[wikipedia:Theory of multiple intelligences|the theory of multiple intelligences]], and believes that intelligence shows itself in different ways. Jayne's aptitude is more in line with firearms and combat and likely has a more bodily-kinesthetic inclination than the rest of the crew. Mind you, I'm not saying he's a [[Genius Ditz]] or anything, just saying that he's more intelligent than his crude nature and lack of any sort of formal education lets on. Not as smart as Simon, Book, Inara, or Kaylee(in no particular order), but on a comparable level to Mal, Zoe, and Wash. He just has the rotten luck of having the least amount of schooling for anyone on the crew, which is why his competence only shows in his areas of experience; fighting.

*** The Serenity RPG manual gives stats for Jayne, and he has a 4 in intelligence, just below the average intelligence of 6. Jayne does occasionally get confused by fairly straightforward conversation from the other crew even when there aren't many big words to get confused by that just being ignorant would suggest. He's also shown to be impulsive and not think things through. However, I do think that Jayne has some cunning, and he's clearly good with guns and fighting.

**** The stats in the RPG manual are probably intended more for game balance than to reflect their actual abilities<ref>This is explicitly so in River's case, the book says flat out her stats were designed to balance with the rest of the crew's</ref>. For instance, Jayne and Zoe both have a strength of 10. While Zoe is no pushover, and I wouldn't want to take any bets on which of them would kick the other's ass, as far as pure brute strength I think Jayne would have Zoe beat. At the same time, Book is given a strength of 6, the same as Kaylee and Wash. Book's no spring chicken, but he's been shown weightlifting with Jayne, so I think he'd be a notch higher than what's he's listed as.

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== Firefly is an unintentional ''sequel'' to [[Battlestar Galactica]] ==

* They abandoned [[Earth That Was]] due to the next generation of cylons, thus continuing the cycle.

* They abandoned [[Earth-That-Was]] due to the next generation of cylons, thus continuing the cycle.

** Or to put it another way ''All of This Has Happened Before, It Will Happen Again.'' Given that the Alliance doesn't seem to have Cylon level robotics (unless Mr. Univere's sexmech isn't telling us something) Humanity has a while to go before things get really bad. Again.

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Seriously, the covertly kidnapping people to use in experiments, the mind reading (Gibson Praise anyone?), the sheer kick-assery. It's all there.

* It's also been there in many, many other science fiction 'Verses long before X-Files came along. [[Older Than They Think|Nothing new under the sun]].

* AND the X-files, Firefly, Dollhouse, and other sci-fi stories dealing with clandestine government human experimentation are roughly based on actual experiments and programs of the CIA in the 1960s. See also [~~http://en.~~wikipedia~~.org/wiki/~~Mkultra MKUltra], Mockingbird, The Men Who Stared at Goats, and the [~~http://en.~~wikipedia~~.org/wiki/Family_Jewels_%28Central_Intelligence_Agency%29~~ Family Jewels Reports].

* AND the X-files, Firefly, Dollhouse, and other sci-fi stories dealing with clandestine government human experimentation are roughly based on actual experiments and programs of the CIA in the 1960s. See also [[wikipedia:Mkultra|MKUltra]], Mockingbird, The Men Who Stared at Goats, and the [[wikipedia:Family Jewels chr(28)Central Intelligence Agencychr(29)|Family Jewels Reports]].

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== Aliens do exist!. ==

But humanity's only been to two solar systems and space is really ''[[Sci Fi Writers Have No Sense of Scale|big]]'', so it hasn't encountered them, nor will it in the protagonists' lifetimes.

But humanity's only been to two solar systems and space is really ''[[Sci-Fi Writers Have No Sense of Scale|big]]'', so it hasn't encountered them, nor will it in the protagonists' lifetimes.

* Sorry but [[Word of God]] confirms that there are no aliens in the Firefly universe.

* No, [[Word of God]] excused itself from ever writing aliens into the story of the ''Serenity''. Just 'cause there's no aliens in [[The Verse]] doesn't mean there's no aliens in the 'verse

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== The Tams are of Asian, if not Chinese, descent. ==

There is [~~http://en.~~wikipedia~~.org/wiki/Tan_~~(surname) a surname] pronounced "Tam". The ancestry may not even be that far up the family tree, either, as even having one Caucasian parent can result in Simon and River's features.

There is [[wikipedia:Tan (surname)|a surname]] pronounced "Tam". The ancestry may not even be that far up the family tree, either, as even having one Caucasian parent can result in Simon and River's features.

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How else can you explain the striking similarities? The Unification War, Alliance, Blue Sun(s), Consort/Companion, and even the characters (ie: Urdnot Wrex/Jayne Cobb, Tali/Kaylee, etc)

* I would explain it as Mass Effect borrowing ideas/ripping-off from Firefly, but that's just my silly theory.

** Or, more likely, as a [[Shout Out]] to Firefly.

** Or, more likely, as a [[Shout-Out]] to Firefly.

** Shout out seems likely. Mass Effect is loaded with references to other Science Fiction franchises.

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== Zoe is pregnant. ==

Because she has to be. I'm not necessarily implying [[Dead Guy Junior]], but that works too.

Because she has to be. I'm not necessarily implying [[Dead Guy, Junior]], but that works too.

* Hinted at in "Heart of Gold" when she mentions wanting to start a family.

* Confirmed by "Float Out", thank God!

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== Firefly is a prequel series to [[Blake's Seven ~~(TV)~~|Blakes Seven]]. ==

== Firefly is a prequel series to [[Blake's Seven|Blakes Seven]]. ==

At some point in the future, the Alliance develops a working version of the Pax, which they put in everyone's food. They recolonise Earth-that-was and invent FTL engines.

* Or...

== The events of [[Blake's Seven ~~(TV)~~|Blakes Seven]] are taking place around the same time. ==

== The events of [[Blake's Seven|Blakes Seven]] are taking place around the same time. ==

The last series of ''Blake's 7' introduced Pylene-50, which worked in very similar fashion to the Pax only without the side effects, and the domed cities on Earth and the restrictions on outside movement could quite easily have started out as a response to some kind of environmental catastrophe. It would be entirely typical of the Terran Federation to keep a [[Lost Colony]] too backwards and resource-poor to be worth annexing embargoed as a proving ground for their latest [[Government Drug Enforcement|mood-stabilising drugs]] or other instruments of totalitarian unpleasantness. Whether the Alliance government is an [[Unwitting Pawn]] or willing accomplice is anyone's guess.

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== [[Doctor Who ~~(TV)~~|Starship UK]] was one of the Arks. ==

== [[Doctor Who|Starship UK]] was one of the Arks. ==

* The premise of [[Doctor Who ~~(TV)~~/Recap/S31 E02 The Beast Below|"The Beast Below"]] is essentially identical to the backstory of ''Firefly'': a fleet of ships carries the last humans away from Earth when the planet's no longer habitable. We still see signs of national identity in the 'Verse--The Sino-American Alliance, of course, plus place names like New Melbourne and New Paris--which suggests that the ''Who'' model of a separate Ark for each country or region might've happened there.

* The premise of [[Doctor Who/Recap/S31 E02 The Beast Below|"The Beast Below"]] is essentially identical to the backstory of ''Firefly'': a fleet of ships carries the last humans away from Earth when the planet's no longer habitable. We still see signs of national identity in the 'Verse--The Sino-American Alliance, of course, plus place names like New Melbourne and New Paris--which suggests that the ''Who'' model of a separate Ark for each country or region might've happened there.

* This provides a neat explanation for why so many regional accents still exist in ''Firefly'''s future. Starship UK, the British Ark we see in ''The Beast Below'', seems to be divided up into sections that approximate the country's counties; it's possible that smaller regional divisons also exist, with people generally continuing to live in the district of the Ark that corresponds to their ancestors' hometown. If this local insularity got specific enough, it's possible that there was an East London division whose inhabitants became the ancestors of Badger and the other Dyton colonists.

** If the East London accent really is unique to Dyton, then ''all'' of the people who still had that accent when Starship UK reached the new system would have to have immigrated there at around the same time once the colony became habitable; they would more than likely have been among the first to do so. Given that [[Word of Dante|some]] [[Fanon|sources]] refer to Dyton as a penal colony, this emigration might not have been willing—but then the Alliance isn’t exactly known for its ethical treatment of its citizens.

* Of course, this theory implies that the 'Verse and the Whoniverse are one and the same, which gives us some problems re: aliens. But this isn't as difficult to overcome as it first appears: humanity's [[Weirdness Censor]] and judicious use of the [[Reset Button]] has caused Earth to experience First Contact ''multiple'' times in just the new series of [[~~Doctor Who (TV)|~~Doctor Who]], so it's plausible that by the time people started leaving Earth they'd forgotten that the aliens were anything but mythical.

* Of course, this theory implies that the 'Verse and the Whoniverse are one and the same, which gives us some problems re: aliens. But this isn't as difficult to overcome as it first appears: humanity's [[Weirdness Censor]] and judicious use of the [[Reset Button]] has caused Earth to experience First Contact ''multiple'' times in just the new series of [[Doctor Who]], so it's plausible that by the time people started leaving Earth they'd forgotten that the aliens were anything but mythical.

** It's a little more difficult to justify an apparently alien-free 'Verse for the British refugees and their descendants, considering what happened on Starship UK. Perhaps they forgot, too…or perhaps the people ''do'' remember, and just don’t realize what they’re remembering is true. It’s a story, after all, about a magic man in a magic box and a giant space whale and a queen who lives for centuries—and what is that but a fairy tale? It could well be that kids on Londinium and Dyton grow up with that story the way we do with Grimm and Andersen, and nobody thinks to ascribe any more truth to it than you would to “Snow White.”

* All that still leaves the matter of time, which is the hardest contradiction to account for. We’re told that ''Firefly'' takes place in the 26th century; “The Beast Below” is set in the 33rd. But if this theory is correct, “Beast Below” needs to have taken place first. How can that be?

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China was the country least effected in the last days of the war, so their culture became dominant in the new setting.

* I'm guessing we're including the WMG that the Bugs were produced by the Federation as part of a [[False Flag Operation]]? Because the lack of aliens is pretty prominent and the idea that they left Earth because they were forced off by alien bugs would go against that idea.

* I'm guessing we're including the WMG that the Bugs were produced by the Federation as part of a [[False-Flag Operation]]? Because the lack of aliens is pretty prominent and the idea that they left Earth because they were forced off by alien bugs would go against that idea.

** It takes place several centuries later. The bugs have become a myth like the Reavers. People in the 'verse prolly think that "the bugs" were literally bugs, and not aliens. For all we know, the average person in the street thinks that [[Earth That Was]] was destroyed by giant bugs created in an Alliance experiment [[Gone Horribly Wrong]].

** It takes place several centuries later. The bugs have become a myth like the Reavers. People in the 'verse prolly think that "the bugs" were literally bugs, and not aliens. For all we know, the average person in the street thinks that [[Earth-That-Was]] was destroyed by giant bugs created in an Alliance experiment [[Gone Horribly Wrong]].

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* Seductive as hell? Check.

* And finally, "Goodnight, sweetie."

* Jossed by ''[[~~Doctor Who (TV)|~~Doctor Who]]'' itself, {{spoiler|River Song uses all her future regenerations to save the Doctor's life.}}

* Jossed by ''[[Doctor Who]]'' itself, {{spoiler|River Song uses all her future regenerations to save the Doctor's life.}}