Can anyone who's seen Serenity and is familiar with Firefly please tell me why Joss killed of the "Shepard" and "Wash" in the movie?
2006-07-07 09:55:50 · 13 answers · asked by Celestial_query 1 in Entertainment & Music ➔ Movies
Good answers so far (with one exception) the gist of most answers is that their deaths helped close the loop and answer questions. However the end of the movie still left a damaged but effective Alliance Government able to try and find the doctor and his sister - leaving an opening (albeit rather small) for another movie?
2006-07-08 05:46:07 · update #1
Joss Whedon talks about it in his interview in the Visual Companion book to the movie. He references an old war movie from the 70's called Zulu, which featured this long and bloody siege battle. At the end of it, all of the heroes and known actors were still alive. He thought this was very unrealistic. People die in battles. Even the good guys. And even people you like. So people had to die - it was just a question of who and how and when.
On the DVD commentary, Joss expands on this a little bit. He also said something along the lines that to really have suspense in the final shootout between the crew and the Reavers, he needed to have people already dead. That would leave people wondering, does Zoe die when she goes down with the cut wound?, does Kaylee survive the Reaver darts?, does Inara survive when the Reaver jumps across the barricade atop here?, what about Simon when he gets shot?, or River when she goes through the blast doors? Interestingly, Jayne is the only one who didn't face an individual act of mortal peril in the final battle - something more ironic than coincidence?
Anyway, to ensure the audience feels suspense with each of these actions, people have to had died earlier.
BTW, although Alan Tudyk and Joss had talked about the Wash character eventually killed off in the series, when it came to the movie the story that is going around is that Ron Glass was quite upset by both his limited screentime in the movie and his character's demise.
2006-07-11 01:51:06 · answer #1 · answered by TJ 6 · 4⤊ 0⤋
There is plenty of plot left for another movie, but most voting on the fan-based websites to-date are pushing for another season; provided Joss or someone can find a network to pick it up.
Should another series be granted (hopefully so), then I would keep an eye on Kaylee, the Doctor, and Inara. As previously mentioned Joss likes to go for the heart-string sooner or later; "guess all of the tragedy in Shakesphere is too hard to resist." (fyi: according to the fan sites Joss enjoyed Shakesphere readings at his residence -- After learning this it was easy to see the reflections in many of his works.)
As for the Alliance going after the Tams, this is plausable since they invested a lot of money and effort into River, and governments normally don't like throwing away such investments without some form of open or covert return.
2006-07-09 19:11:39 · answer #2 · answered by shava 1 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Think about it. Shepard dying, although a shame, was an integral part of the plot. You don't mess with Mal's crew. It made him do what he knew needed to be done. Namely to find the answer to Miranda. With Wash it was to make the audience wonder who might be next because we all knew that if he could die then all bets were off. When Zoe got hurt and then Simon, I thought there was a chance that most of them might die and it was all because Wash had died.
Plus while Firefly was still filming the actor who played Wash actually suggested that his character be killed off later because the fans wouldn't see it coming.
2006-07-07 20:46:28 · answer #3 · answered by theoriginalquestmaker 5 · 1⤊ 0⤋
So the characters couldn't be brought back. Gotta say that the death of the Shepherd left me cold, but Wash's demise was so sudden, it shocked the heck out of me.
I liked the movie, and it tied up a lot of loose ends. I was sorry to see the last of that old Firefly-class transport.
What a great show.
2006-07-07 16:59:52 · answer #4 · answered by Grendle 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
It was to prevent fans from crying for a return. Joss is a phenomenally talented guy and Firefly was a great series but Serenity wraps up the tale...
2006-07-07 16:59:29 · answer #5 · answered by Michael R 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
If you are familiar at all with Joss Wheden you know that he is always going for the shock value AND he cannot leave a happy couple alone. (Buffy & Angel; Angel & Cordelia; Willow & Tara; etc). He has to have something that pulls at your heart strings and to make you say "Why did he do THAT?"
I was crushed when Shepard died... so horribly... but Wash... that was just.... well, sudden. And such a shame!!!!
2006-07-07 17:32:09 · answer #6 · answered by mistygoering 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
I had heard that Alan Tudyk and Ron Glass made it clear to Joss Wheden that they would not be available for the series if it was brought back to TV.
2006-07-19 17:44:56 · answer #7 · answered by mgctouch 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Don't know. Stupid and pointless. Shepherd Book had his own unresolved plot thread during the series that they never got a chance to follow up on. And Wash was one of my favorite characters and it just didn't contribute anything to the story to kill him off. Actually, it didn't really contribute anything to the story to kill either of them off. I'm still pissed off that the show ended and it's been a few years.
2006-07-21 17:13:21 · answer #8 · answered by badkitty1969 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
They had to. There are no more loose ends. I liked the TV show. It was cool I hope John Doe comes out in theaters. I doubt it though.
2006-07-07 17:03:12 · answer #9 · answered by caitie 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
That was a shocker eh? I was surprised they killed off so many of the crew. That was an amazing show, I loved it.
2006-07-07 16:58:21 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋