1/13: Objects in Space

[TechnoSlut]

Written by: Joss Whedon
Directed by: Joss Whedon
Air date: 12/13/02

A bounty hunter bent on apprehending River boards the ship at night, catching the crew off-guard. He soon grows confused when River claims she's become one with the Serenity.

[Lola m]

Wow. How much do I love this episode? How amazing are the writing and acting and the visuals, etc. etc.t? How criminal is it that this show got flippin' CANCELLED!!

**breathe, breathe, breathe**

Objects in Space. How often do either River or Early mention some variation on this title? A lot. Just one more example of how River and Early are shown, to some extent, as parallels of each other. Is Early just naturally crazy/a sociopath? Or was Early an "early" experiment by the Alliance? Is Early an example of what they hoped to do with River?

Love the opening scenes, with the "object" (moon, asteroid, homing beacon, whatever) in space and then Serenity gliding into the shot. Then the cameral shooting down through and into the ship, traveling the innards until we reach River. Is this the way she stays connected to what is outside? The space she seems to really enjoy so much? I like how this camera work is reversed in the ending shots. With the ball River is holding looking like the round "object" and then the camera shooting outward - into space and finding . . . Early. (When River says, "I can win this", does anyone else think she's talking about more than just playing Jacks?)

This time, when I was watching the scenes of River's dream/hallucination, I noticed that all the scenes she observes contain somewhat the same elements. Simon and Kaylee are bantering and flirting, sexual, but in a subtle way. Book and Jayne are bantering, and talking rather frankly about sex, or the lack of it (for Shepherds). Zoe and Wash have moved beyond banter and are just moving right along to the sex. ;D Mal and Inara are using impersonal language and practical details to hide the fact that they are attracted to each other and don't know how to handle that fact. I found it interesting that River "mindreads" (or is she hearing only what she thinks they think about her?) things about herself directly from everyone except 3 people. We hear nothing from Kaylee. And Inara and Mal don't appear to be addressing her, even though Inara looks right at her. I think they are talking about themselves and their relationship.

Then, there's what she reads/imagines.
* Simon thinks he'd be back in the place he loved if not for her (later he says much the same thing out loud - making a case for mindreading rather than hallucination).
* Jayne is kind of sheepish and defensive over what he did. "I got stupid but the money was too good."
* Book . . . well, now Shepherd Book was a revelation, wasn't he? (Or is he a Shepherd - Early seemed pretty dang sure he wasn't, and was awful eager to just knock him out quick.) "I don't give half a hump if you're innocent or not. So where does that put you?" With a very different voice, no? Methinks Vlad's thoughts about Book seem rather possible.
* Inara: "I'm a big girl. Just tell me." Which I take as aimed at Mal, but could be wrong.
* Mal is the most heartbreaking though. He's always so contained, so isolated. And to hear that almost broken, slightly tearful voice saying "None of it means a damn thing"? Makes me hope that she really isn't reading minds, although I know in my heart that that really is Mal, inside.

Lola

Have more thoughts, but probably should head to bed. Will try to post something more coherent tomorrow, perhaps.

[Nickim]

Great catch on the sex theme, Lola.

I was thinking the same thing about whether River was really hearing what people were thinking or whether it's what sheimagines they're saying. River saw the gun as a tree branch, so maybe the "thoughts" were somewhat skewed as well. I agree that Inara and Mal's thoughts are about their conversation, not River.

Book could be thinking about someone besides River--maybe himself--when he says the line about "if you're innocent or not." If he was a general for the Alliance he probably feels guilty a lot of the time. Even Early says, "That ain't a Shepherd." Early knows all of them pretty well. What does he know about Book?

Did you notice how Book walks between Kaylee and Simon after the almost kiss? Breaking up any chance of sex between them?

Early's comment that Kaylee "ain't nothing but a body to me" ties back to Rancid's view of women in Heart of Gold. Early also mentions that only women can create a child, another reminder of the previous episode. Also, Early and Petaline's baby have Bible names--Jubal and Jonah. I think you're probably right about Inara's reason for leaving having to do with a baby. We're meant to think about that episode for a reason. Also, Wash and Zoe seemed like they were busy making the baby that she said she wanted.

I wondered if some of Early's confusion when he was talking to Simon was being caused by River. If she can read minds, maybe she can influence thoughts too.

Lines that stand out--
Early says, "Man is stronger than woman." Yet it's a teenage girl who defeats him.
Early says, "Miss out on what's solid" while he's standing on an open grate, not a solid surface.
Early to Simon, "You oughta be shot....Make you understand the kind of pain you're dealing with."(My enjoyment of this line is probably a result of all my dealings with doctors in the past year.)
River to Early, "Talk too much." River doesn't talk much at all.
River referring to Simon, "He takes so much looking after."

I just hope we get to know these people better next April. I'll be a little disappointed in the movie if we see just a lot of "objects in space" being blown up and not much of the deep character development.

[Lola m]

Nicki said:

Great catch on the sex theme, Lola.

I was thinking the same thing about whether River was really hearing what people were thinking or whether it's what sheimagines they're saying. River saw the gun as a tree branch, so maybe the "thoughts" were somewhat skewed as well. I agree that Inara and Mal's thoughts are about their conversation, not River.

Book could be thinking about someone besides River--maybe himself--when he says the line about "if you're innocent or not." If he was a general for the Alliance he probably feels guilty a lot of the time. Even Early says, "That ain't a Shepherd." Early knows all of them pretty well. What does he know about Book?

Did you notice how Book walks between Kaylee and Simon after the almost kiss? Breaking up any chance of sex between them?

Early's comment that Kaylee "ain't nothing but a body to me" ties back to Rancid's view of women in Heart of Gold. Early also mentions that only women can create a child, another reminder of the previous episode. Also, Early and Petaline's baby have Bible names--Jubal and Jonah. I think you're probably right about Inara's reason for leaving having to do with a baby. We're meant to think about that episode for a reason. Also, Wash and Zoe seemed like they were busy making the baby that she said she wanted.

I wondered if some of Early's confusion when he was talking to Simon was being caused by River. If she can read minds, maybe she can influence thoughts too.

Lines that stand out--
Early says, "Man is stronger than woman." Yet it's a teenage girl who defeats him.
Early says, "Miss out on what's solid" while he's standing on an open grate, not a solid surface.
Early to Simon, "You oughta be shot....Make you understand the kind of pain you're dealing with."(My enjoyment of this line is probably a result of all my dealings with doctors in the past year.)
River to Early, "Talk too much." River doesn't talk much at all.
River referring to Simon, "He takes so much looking after."

I just hope we get to know these people better next April. I'll be a little disappointed in the movie if we see just a lot of "objects in space" being blown up and not much of the deep character development.

I have every confidence we'll get to know these characters more, because if there's one thing Joss does sooooo well (and there's more than one, but hey!), it's tell great stories in a rich way - even with limited time. I only have to think of the original two hour pilot and I know he'll do just fine with movie.

Now, whether or not he'll have time to do ALL the stories I want to see in the first movie . . . that's the unknown.

Lola