Talk:Malcolm Reynolds

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See Talk:Kaylee_Frye for reasons to not create seperate articles for Firefly characters. If Serenity spawns iconic sequels there may be an argument for these tho. — Jeandré, 2005-01-09t16:12z

[edit] "Malcolm" in Vulcan language?

The above is mentioned in the Trivia section. The attributed source has the following quote concerning this:

"I think it’s a lovely name. Malcolm is the Vu word for serenity." 
- T'Pol to Malcolm, in his dreams

Does anyone else think that rather than "Malcolm" actually being a word in Vulcan (Vu?), the more likely explanation is that the quote is a reference to the Firefly universe? --Pentasyllabic 04:49, 2 August 2006 (UTC)

• • I guess we could look to see when it aired... it it's as you say, then we'd need to reword it as an influence on other shows plange 06:01, 2 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Is Mal an atheist?

So as to avoid a revert war, I thought I'd bring this here. Basis for putting it in is "Saying God is not welcome on his ship and, more plainly, that help from "on high" never comes" - does that unequivocally mean he's an atheist? I'm an agnostic and could say the same things, hence why I reverted it originally. What do others think? --plange 03:49, 29 October 2006 (UTC)

"Atheist" strikes me as too loaded a term to use without an explicit statement within the canon. I don't have specific citations at the moment, but I've gotten the impression that Mal is angry at the God he used to follow, which still implies a belief in the existence of, but without the faith in, God. (Even the terms "belief" and "faith" have too many meanings in this situation. Ugh.) ~ Jeff Q (talk) 04:01, 29 October 2006 (UTC)

I agree with Jeff Q. Mal never says he doesn't believe God exists, but he expresses anger towards God. Most atheists I know aren't angry at God, because they don't believe he exists. This leads me to believe he's not one. Perhaps someone will ask Joss this one. Pending any more evidence to the contrary, I propose we do not count him an atheist. Othersider 05:20, 2 November 2006 (UTC)

Well, I certainly got the sense that he was, given his attitude towards Book and experiences in the war (he was initially a believer of God, but apparently He fell out of favor when the independents got the snot kicked out of them). Whedon himself is an atheist, and I could easily see him writing his own opinions into the character, but that's highly speculative and shouldn't be used as evidence of jack squat. Just my two cents. EVula 05:51, 2 November 2006 (UTC)

Yep, but in the end, it's speculation on our part. In Finding Serenity, a commentator argued that Book's role on the ship for Mal was to challenge him and lead him back, kicking and screaming, into belief, etc., so since others have thought different things based on what they saw, it definitely means we can only rely on what was specifically stated. --plange 06:30, 2 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Mal's Age

Where does Mal's date of birth come from? --Nalvage 05:07, 11 November 2006 (UTC)

Well, past-me, it apparently comes from a screen glimpsed in the movie Serenity. Here's a screencap [1]. This would make Mal around fifty at the time of the show, and impressively well-preserved. --Nalvage 17:51, 15 December 2006 (UTC)