GENERAL DISCUSSIONS

Where does 'Serenity ' end? What planet?

POSTED BY: SEANCJ
UPDATED: Tuesday, February 6, 2007 06:31
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Friday, February 2, 2007 7:41 AM

SEANCJ


Hi guys!
I have a few questions:
1. Where is the ship being fixed at the end of the movie? Are they still on Mr. Universe's planet? Common sense says that's where they are but I wasn't so sure becuase when they left, there was no "pretty pretty lights" electrical/ion atmosphere, only a stormy sky.
2. Where were Book, Wash, and Mr. Universe buried? Again, it appears they are still on Mr U's planet. Were the bodies actually buried there or were these just monuments to our friends? I can't see why they would bury Wash and Book right next to Mr. Universe. Mr U was not actually part of the crew and sure, they appeared to be 'friendlys' with him, but not 'family'. I guess one place is as good as any since their true home is Serenity.
3. Did the Alliance help put Serenity back together again? Or was this help from some maintenance/shipyard crew on Mr. U's planet?
Thanks for the help.


"You wanna run this ship?"
"Yes"
"Well,...you can't"

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Friday, February 2, 2007 8:41 AM

CYBERSNARK


Serenity was patched up elsewhere (the novelization says Eavesdown, but it could be anywhere. They were brought there by the Operative after leaving Mr. Universe's world.

I'm guessing that the dead were buried (or memorialized, whichever) on Haven.

-----
We applied the cortical electrodes but were unable to get a neural reaction from either patient.

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Friday, February 2, 2007 8:49 AM

DONCOAT


Good questions.

Opinions vary on some of these. What follows are my own thoughts and they aren't necessarily a consensus among the browncoats here.

1. I don't think Serenity was flyable at the end of the movie, so it had to be one of two things. Either the repairs were done on U's planet, or the Alliance gave them the equivalent of a tow to the nearest facility. I don't think the latter is likely, so I vote for Mr. U's place. However, that too has problems, as it seemed that little planetoid was basically U's private haunt; why would there be a repair yard there? Speculation: it was once a populated planet but was abandoned some time before U took it over. (Pax again?) The facilities were still intact, and the Serenity crew made use of them.

2. By the same argument as (1), on Mr. U's planetoid. Interesting corollary question: was Mr. U's lovebot buried with him? She's visible in the memorial image. Further corollary: are these even graves at all? Maybe they're just memorial stones. Again, Book wouldn't have been there unless they brought his body from Haven.

3. Mal acknowledges that the Operative "patched up their hurt". That may only mean the crew, but then Serenity is the 10th character, so Mal may have been including her among those hurt and patched up on the Operative's orders.

Incidentally, the movie novelization by KRAD indicates that the last scenes occur somewhere else (can't remember where), and that Serenity flew there under her own power. A likely story! No way you could fly her on one thruster, in my opinion... never mind the fact that you have a big hole in the bridge window.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I'm pointin' right at it!

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Friday, February 2, 2007 9:17 AM

GILLACATAN


Quote:

Originally posted by DonCoat:
Good questions.

Opinions vary on some of these. What follows are my own thoughts and they aren't necessarily a consensus among the browncoats here.

1. I don't think Serenity was flyable at the end of the movie, so it had to be one of two things. Either the repairs were done on U's planet, or the Alliance gave them the equivalent of a tow to the nearest facility. I don't think the latter is likely, so I vote for Mr. U's place. However, that too has problems, as it seemed that little planetoid was basically U's private haunt; why would there be a repair yard there? Speculation: it was once a populated planet but was abandoned some time before U took it over. (Pax again?) The facilities were still intact, and the Serenity crew made use of them.

2. By the same argument as (1), on Mr. U's planetoid. Interesting corollary question: was Mr. U's lovebot buried with him? She's visible in the memorial image. Further corollary: are these even graves at all? Maybe they're just memorial stones. Again, Book wouldn't have been there unless they brought his body from Haven.

3. Mal acknowledges that the Operative "patched up their hurt". That may only mean the crew, but then Serenity is the 10th character, so Mal may have been including her among those hurt and patched up on the Operative's orders.

Incidentally, the movie novelization by KRAD indicates that the last scenes occur somewhere else (can't remember where), and that Serenity flew there under her own power. A likely story! No way you could fly her on one thruster, in my opinion... never mind the fact that you have a big hole in the bridge window.



Actually, in one of the extras on the DVD, Mal order Inara and Simon to include Book among the bodies they strap to Serenity's hull. So, they did have his body...

As for where they were at the end, the novelization says the Eavesdown docks (so Pesephone), but I think is was Beaumonde, as Joss likes to have a circuitous story arc; Beaumonde was where the main plot really begins, so it should be where the story ends. Granted, the same argument can be applied to Persephone, as that's where Simon and River came on board in the first place.

----------------------------------------------------
Someday, we'll look back on all of this, laugh nervously and change the subject.

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Friday, February 2, 2007 9:18 AM

GILLACATAN


Quote:

Originally posted by DonCoat:
Good questions.

Opinions vary on some of these. What follows are my own thoughts and they aren't necessarily a consensus among the browncoats here.

1. I don't think Serenity was flyable at the end of the movie, so it had to be one of two things. Either the repairs were done on U's planet, or the Alliance gave them the equivalent of a tow to the nearest facility. I don't think the latter is likely, so I vote for Mr. U's place. However, that too has problems, as it seemed that little planetoid was basically U's private haunt; why would there be a repair yard there? Speculation: it was once a populated planet but was abandoned some time before U took it over. (Pax again?) The facilities were still intact, and the Serenity crew made use of them.

2. By the same argument as (1), on Mr. U's planetoid. Interesting corollary question: was Mr. U's lovebot buried with him? She's visible in the memorial image. Further corollary: are these even graves at all? Maybe they're just memorial stones. Again, Book wouldn't have been there unless they brought his body from Haven.

3. Mal acknowledges that the Operative "patched up their hurt". That may only mean the crew, but then Serenity is the 10th character, so Mal may have been including her among those hurt and patched up on the Operative's orders.

Incidentally, the movie novelization by KRAD indicates that the last scenes occur somewhere else (can't remember where), and that Serenity flew there under her own power. A likely story! No way you could fly her on one thruster, in my opinion... never mind the fact that you have a big hole in the bridge window.



Actually, in one of the extras on the DVD, Mal order Inara and Simon to include Book among the bodies they strap to Serenity's hull. So, they did have his body...

As for where they were at the end, the novelization says the Eavesdown docks (so Pesephone), but I think is was Beaumonde, as Joss likes to have a circuitous story arc; Beaumonde was where the main plot really begins, so it should be where the story ends. Granted, the same argument can be applied to Persephone, as that's where Simon and River came on board in the first place.

----------------------------------------------------
Someday, we'll look back on all of this, laugh nervously and change the subject.

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Friday, February 2, 2007 9:19 AM

GILLACATAN


Whoops, double post

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Friday, February 2, 2007 9:30 AM

CHRISISALL


Can't the Alliance just fly in a portable 'repair yard' to fix planet-bound ships needing work?

Just a thought Chrisisall

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Friday, February 2, 2007 9:36 AM

CHRISTHECYNIC


That [taking Book] was a joke, hence the fact it was in the blooper reel and not the deleted scenes bit.

-

Ok, so where were they? I've got no idea. But I have to say that from my way of looking at things the "Patching up our hurt" must have included the ship.

Mal couldn't afford to keep important pieces on the ship, how could he afford the repairs needed at the end of the movie? He did get a take from the job, but did anyone get the impression it was a job that was that good?

Anyway
1 The monuments were not grave markers, because if they were there would have been graves near them. (This doesn't remove the possibility that they could hold a person's ashes, but that wouldn't make them grave markers. It would just mean that all three had been set on fire. That would certainly make transport easier.)
2 The planet they left at the end couldn't have been the same one as Mr. Universe's world because of the lack of ion thingy.
3 The fact that they didn't seem to fix the cockpit until they got to that planet implies that they didn't drive there on their own.

If I had to guess based on that I'd say the operative had Serenity towed or carried in cargo (some of those ships were big enough to have a hold that could fit her) somewhere else.

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Friday, February 2, 2007 9:50 AM

KALLYN


Perhaps the Operative gathered Serenity up in a ship's cargo bay, and brought them to Evesdown. (As suggested by the novelization.) There were some pretty big ships there.

I think that they were memorials as opposed to graves. And notice that Mal tells them to put Book on the ship in the _outtakes_. Nathan was joking there. If you notice, in the same rant, he wanted to "get the kid who's taking a dirt nap with baby Jesus. We need a hood ornament." Personaly, I think that they cremate them in the 'verse. There is no evedence to support that theory, except a lack of actual graves for the characters anywhere. Notice that there is no desturbed ground near the memorials. (I think they were on Haven.)

If you watch the commentary of the BDM, you notice that Joss says, (while Mal puts his hand on a dead Mr. U's shoulder,) that Mal likes this guy. He paid the ultimate price to help them, and right then and there, he accepted him as his crew, hence he was 'memorialized' with Wash and Book.

Finally, as stated before, Mal says to the Operative, "Patching up our hurt." It wouldn't make sense that it would only be the crew, because Simon is a doctor. As well as the quote came after the repairs, when they were packing up to leave.

My 2 cents anyways.

-Kall ::Everyone dies alone...::

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Friday, February 2, 2007 9:59 AM

DONCOAT


Quote:

Originally posted by Gillacatan:
Actually, in one of the extras on the DVD, Mal order Inara and Simon to include Book among the bodies they strap to Serenity's hull. So, they did have his body...

True, but that was in an outtake, which was made strictly for laughs (and did it ever work on that score!)

I don't think anybody considers that to be canon, not by a long shot.

On strictly logical grounds, the best answer is for the Alliance to have provided a "tugboat" to give Serenity and her crew a lift to a repair yard. But that assumes that the Alliance would be willing to do that for somebody who just gave them one of the biggest black eyes they've ever had.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I'm pointin' right at it!

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Monday, February 5, 2007 2:22 PM

GORRAMSHINY


well, there is a topic about the same thing HERE: http://www.stillflying.net/forum/viewtopic.php?p=5623#5623

I think we fans need to find one big discussion forum where ALL the browncoats go that is only for discussion and talking about the series and stuff (no fanfic or anything, just one giant forum).

I sorry if that was totally off topic, but that's what I think.

[IMG][/IMG]

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Monday, February 5, 2007 5:31 PM

TRAVELER


We see only the ships crew actually doing the repairs. If they were on a main planet there would be a professional dry dock repairing Serenity. This makes me beleave they are still on Mr. Universe's planet.


Traveler

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Monday, February 5, 2007 7:57 PM

ROCKETJOCK


The basic rule with canonicity of a novelization is that if it contradicts what's seen on screen, the screened version wins. So, though the novel says Serenity limped to a repair yard with her disattached thruster in her cargo bay, the damage seen in the movie was far too severe for her to have launched without major repair. The operative probably had enough pull left to offer medical aid and keep the Alliance Troops off The BDH's collective ass while repairs were made, but you'll notice, the only people doing those repairs were Mal and company.

Where did the repair yard come from? The same place Mr. U's facility did; Mr. U stole it, fair and square, by faking a terraforming catastrophe that was going to make the place uninhabitable, and then moving in once the original owners were gone. Quite the hacker, Mr. U.

That backstory, by the way, comes from the novelization; since it doesn't contradict the movie, I can accept it as canonical.

As for the lack of ionic display, we never see an exterior of the surface of Mr. U's world except in daylight, which would probably drown the pretty lights out. At night, it would probably be like having the northern light dusk to dawn.

"She's tore up plenty. But she'll fly true." -- Zoë Washburn

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Monday, February 5, 2007 9:45 PM

NEWOLDBROWNCOAT


I agree with most of what RocketJock says. Serenity was too damaged to be moved. And another issue, the Operative had the repairs done on his own authority-- if he'd had the ship moved, Parliament and the forces that sent him out would have noticed it.

So it was done there , on Mr. Unverse's planet.

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Tuesday, February 6, 2007 6:23 AM

SEANCJ


I'm afraid I'll have to disagree to a point about the repairs being done solely by Serenity's crew. The damage was very extensive and (no offense intended here) I highly doubt that this crew would have the collective knowledge or tools in place to reconnect a HUGE thruster engine along with all the other major mechanical and electrical repairs needed throughout the ship after such a landing. I'm pretty sure the EMP from the Reaver ship destroyed most, if not all, electrical/computer components throughout the ship. Of course Kaylee has an innate sense of the ships workings, but the other crew members have no clue whatsoever. The amount of time it would take a crew of 7, only one mechanic amongst them, to make those repairs is, quite frankly, unimaginable. They needed help.
If they remained on Mr. U's planet, I think that there had to be some Alliance engineers helping out with this as ordered by The Operative. I think that is primarily what Mal means by "patching up our hurt" as he clearly looks deliberately up at Serenity during that line. By 'hurt' I am sure he means the damage done to Serenity herself. He knew the crew could have taken care of their medical situation by themselves as proven in many episodes in the past, but the 'hurt' suffered by Serenity was far too great for him to take care of by himself and even his pride could not keep him from accepting help in that regard, even from the Alliance. Mal would not have had the parts nor the money needed to make those repairs.
My bet is the The Operative went so far as to aid in their major repairs but to also provide the replacement parts needed to make those repairs. There was most likely some medical aid given to the crew as well but the jist of his comment was towards the damage done to the ship itself.
I am tending now to think that the ship was hauled off Mr. U's planet and fixed up at another location with the aid of Alliance or a shipyard crew. I will bet that Mal did not allow anyone 'inside' Serenity to help with those repairs, but he would have needed help with the heavy major stuff outside.
I also base the repairs being done off Mr. U's planet secondary to the lack of ion cloud as Serenity sails off into the sunset.
Its an affect they pointed out every single time they came back to Mr. U. Why would they forget it at the end?




"You wanna run this ship?"
"Yes"
"Well,...you can't"

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Tuesday, February 6, 2007 6:31 AM

SEANCJ


Oh, I just realized one more thing. Time it takes to heal!
Most of our crew sustained severe injuries during that fight. Most of those injuries would take many many weeks, if not months (even with the advanced medical practices of the time), to heal before they could be crawling around inside/outside the ship making those kinds of labor intensive and extensive repairs.
If you look at them during the 'funeral' scene, they are all bandaged up but clearly still feeling the affects of their wounds, leaning on canes, arms in splints ect..
But, cut to the repair sequences, they all appear to be fully healed and able bodied.
Would the Alliance have waited around all that time 'on Mr U's planet' to provide the aid to our ship? I'll bet not.
Again, I think that The Operative gave some medical aid to our crew initially to patch them up and get them on their feet, let them have their 'funeral and last respects' but then hauled everyone, Serenity included to a near by planet with the facilities AND parts, to make those extensive repairs. The crew was allowed to heal during that time before they were ready to begin the fix up of Serenity.

"You wanna run this ship?"
"Yes"
"Well,...you can't"

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