Firefly-help me out

[Welverin]

I understand that (hasn't been THAT long since I took physics!); the debate is between multiple star systems (with FTL) or one large system with lots of habitable planets/moons (without FTL). That's why I made the point about it being unlikely that there was 20+ planets/moons that could be terraformed in one system.

Oops, guess the fact that there is a debate left me so baffled that I went off a little. sorry.

 

[Klaus]

Joss Whedon mentioned in an interview (I forget if it was at a comics convention, or a Serenity panel) that Firefly/Serenity takes place in a single solar system. No FTL.

 

[Cthulhudrew]

1) When does this series take place?

Several hundred years in the future. I don't recall if it is said exactly or not.

2) What is the relationship to Earth (is it still around, still occupied by humans, was it ever around)?

The colonists all originally came from Earth, but some unspecified disaster seems to have taken place there. It isn't really talked about much (listen close and you might hear some references to the "Earth that was"), and there is a brief puppet show (mostly in the background) in the episode "Heart of Gold"- which may not have premiered yet; it's one of the last ones- which touches briefly on it.

3) Why, if interstellar spaceflight has been developed to the extent that is has, has not small-arms weapon technology also advanced? I know I saw and AK-47 (or derivation) and an M203 in the first episode. I'm not saying I need ray-guns or anything, but really, they're still using mid 20th century technology?

As others point out, the Alliance uses some high tech stuff; Jayne's gun Vera seems to be somewhat modified more than anything currently seen, and some other high technology is seen in later episodes. The majority of the people on Firefly, however, are the outer rim colonists, who are on the far reaches of everything (think third-world countries) and don't have access to the real "high-tech" weaponry. These are the planets that Mal and crew tend to stick to, as Mal (as a former Browncoat) doesn't like being anywhere near the Alliance.

 

[River Tam]

The Alliance-Independents war is loosely modeled after the American Civil War, with the Alliance being the North and the Browncoats being the South. So after the war ended, Mal and other Browncoat vets headed to the outer planets -- modeled after the American West in the post-Civil War era.

The Core Worlds of the Alliance have a much higher technology than the outer worlds, which are mostly terraformed and colonized planets and moons.

And a friend of mine who saw an advanced screening of Serenity (lucky bastard!) said it makes very clear right at the beginning of the movie that everything takes place in one solar system, with every planet and moon that could be terraformed, transformed.

 

[Dingleberry]

1) When does this series take place?

According to the SciFi channel "ABOUT" page for the show, it's 500 years in the future.

 

[John Crichton]

3) Why, if interstellar spaceflight has been developed to the extent that is has, has not small-arms weapon technology also advanced? I know I saw and AK-47 (or derivation) and an M203 in the first episode. I'm not saying I need ray-guns or anything, but really, they're still using mid 20th century technology?

Others have commented already on this but I'd like to point out that while most of the weapons look like slugthrowers or something out of our current era, listen to the sounds they make when being loaded or fired. They are certainly different while maintaining the same look of the old west guns.

I read/saw somewhere something about the tech that was official. I'll try and dig it up. Altho it could have been on the DVDs for all I know.

 

[Welverin]

Joss Whedon mentioned in an interview (I forget if it was at a comics convention, or a Serenity panel) that Firefly/Serenity takes place in a single solar system. No FTL.

Well, that's profoundly stupid. Of course it's the man who gaves us connor, so I'm not shcoked.

 

[ConnorSB]

Well, that's profoundly stupid. Of course it's the man who gaves us connor, so I'm not shcoked.

Well I'm offended now. Thanks a lot.

 

[Sir Brennen]

Re: FTL...

I don't think there are no ships with FTL. Just that the Serenity (Firefly class ship) is an intra-steller vessel, without FTL. There are probably intersteller vessels with FTL, but those probably belong to the Alliance (and were the means to reach this system in the first place.)

Think of how our ability to see planets in other star systems has progressed over just the past five years. Assume it becomes even more precise in a couple hundred years. I mean, if you view systems from a distance and can pick and choose where to set up a group of colonies, this unique system would be ideal, especially if FTL were possible but not practical to maintain governance over colonies scattered across multiple star systems.

It might even be that there is no FTL, and this system was reached by travelling near-light speeds (taking several years), making a system like this, with a high number of terra-formable planets and gas giant moons, an even more logical choice.

 

[Umbran]

Well, that's profoundly stupid.

Speaking as a physicist and as a sci-fi fan, I'd have to say it is not profoundly stupid. In fact, I think it works very well.

Aside from being in line with the laws of the Universe as we currently understand them...

Lack of FTL supports the basic premise that Earth is effectivley gone for good. It is simply out of reach for all intents and purposes.

It fits with the basic premise that the new system was colonized by an alliance of nations on old Earth - when it becomes clear to mankind that Earth is dying, the powerful nations get together and assemble some sub-light ships. These ships are reasonably filled mostly with folks from the nations who built the ships, and their cultures will dominate at the destination.

In addition, stars do not have to be light years apart. Multiple star systems frequenly have them light-minutes apart. So, we can have a few stars and gods only knows how many planets,.planetoids, and moons in a relatively small, isolated space. With a reaction drive (I throw mass out the back of the ship, and the ship moves forward), you can reasonably have people tooling around in such a system with hours, days, and weeks between stops.