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Date Posted: 09:52:51 10/26/02 Sat
Author: Cactus Watcher i.s.
Subject: CW's Writer's Journal for "Out of Gas" (spoilers for the ep)

This episode was more like science-fiction than what we’ve seen before on Firefly. A technical problem results in a crisis. It’s a crisis of technical ability, one of authority, one of faith, one of emotion. This is the kind of story I’ve been waiting for.

I think it was largely a successful story. I do think the size of the cast was unwieldy in this episode. There were too many good stories to tell and not enough time to get into any of them. Even with Zoe incapacitated and Jayne, Shepherd and River more or less pushed to the side, there was too much story for the episode. Multiple story lines are OK, but I’d like to see them concentrate on no more than two. It might make the show seem more focused at a time when it seems to be fighting for its life.

Because of the wealth of technical gimmickry in this ep, a lot of the notes I took this week were about technical issues. Hope it does not bore everyone to tears.

Book’s joke - Like Wash, we’re left out of the joke. It’s easier to write people laughing at a joke than to actually write the joke itself. Plus it puts us in Wash’s position. Again thinking about cast size, this is somewhat wasted because the story isn’t going to be largely about Wash and his perspective.

Fate interrupts the doctor. - I can understand that Jayne really wants Simon and River out of the picture, but why does everyone else let him freeze the doctor out of the conversation? Someone should start thinking about an essay on fate interrupting the doctor. River’s problems have brought his old life to an abrupt end. Jayne is always trying to keep him out of the inner group on the Firefly. The explosion happens just as his big birthday moment is coming to a climax. Is this all Simon can expect in his life?

The explosion - The original Enterprise on Star Trek broke down so often that my brother and I used to refer to it as the starship Booby Prize . A ship in a well-funded government force like Star Fleet ought to be more reliable. A shoestring operation like Mal’s Serenity is a different story. It makes sense that they will have problems occasionally. But, I’d just as soon not have the show turn into the-breakdown-of-the-week.

The Flame - A nice visual, but anything that attracts that much attention is going to have people asking, “What was that?” Was it a burning glob of fuel-oxygen mix? Not that it is important, but it is the kind of thing people are going to pick at. By the way, what does Serenity use for fuel? Maybe that same protein glop Kaylee made the cake from. Just kidding.

Pure adrenalin - I’m no doctor, but I’d guess the with the strain on Mal’s heart and lungs from being oxygen deprived, that shot would kill him very quickly. (See below on the puff of fresh air).

Man in-charge - For the guy who’s supposed to be running it, Mal knows precious little about anything in the ship. The ship is both his life and livelihood. This isn’t a gas-it-up-and-go piece of machinery or they wouldn’t need either a mechanic and a pilot. And even Inara knows more about piloting a shuttle than Mal. Mal has what I’d call the ‘that’s what I hired you for syndrome.’ People like that do fine mid level jobs in corporations, but they tend not to be successful at the top or in their own businesses. I don’t really like the “do it because I’m stronger than you” fight between Mal and Wash either. The verbal fight where Mal impresses an idea on Wash was better, but…

Make the signal go farther - Anybody who’s ever had an unreasonable request from their boss is sure to cringe at the sound of this.

Atmosphere warning in Chinese - This actually makes sense. Many of the parts we see on Serenity are actually modules. A packaged warning system might well give warnings in all the common languages used in space. We know by now Mandarin is common enough that most of the crew understands it.

Prairie harpy - If the show survives, will Kaylee ever live down this nickname?

Kaylee wins the job - I have no problem with Kaylee showing her talent and winning the job in a flash, but I wish she’d stop jerking things so easily off the machinery. Heaven help them, if a couple of ten year-olds got in the engine room. Important things that keep the ship running, and keep everybody from dying really need to be attached a bit more securely.

“Sorry, Capt’n, really sorry. Should have taken better care of her.” - ‘Ship’ is neuter in German, and masculine in Russian. Nothing wrong with using feminine in English. But, it bothers me that everyone wants to call ships “she.”

“Engine don’t turn, life support won’t function. - Tech note. Why does the outside of the engine turn at all? We really don’t have to know. But it’s curious, and it sounds out-of-date even for now… I guess we can account for the lights being on to batteries. It was nice to put them in a protected place in case of an emergency. Too bad they didn’t think of that with the backup life support gear.

“Caveats and addendums” - Some of us here and at ATPo use bad grammar for fun. Mal doesn’t seem to know any better. Do folks with genuine bad grammar really know these words? At least Mal says ‘addendums’ instead of ‘addenda.’

Food for Thought - What is Inara running from?

Sealing the ship up behind him - Since they apparently don’t have enough power for fans to circulate the air, that’s not necessarily a good idea.

Puff of air - A nice way to help refresh some of the air on the ship giving Mal time to work the repairs. But, why the puff of air? Oxygen or no, the air pressure stays the same. Was the air pressure in the ship significantly lowered when the explosion happened? If so, they all would have shown signs of difficulty sooner. Did Mal lower the pressure in Serenity as the other ship docked to get the free blast of fresh oxygen? It’s possible. But it’s also more that a bit dangerous if things don‘t go as planned.

Jayne’s story - How many of us would really want such a loyal guy hanging around us for very long?

“You all gonna be here when I wake up?” - The best line of the show. Mal had been building up his isolation at the same time he had flashbacks about building his crew. Firefly needs more of this kind writing.

Question of the week. Who is your favorite Firefly character? If you’ve seen several episodes has your favorite changed?

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