Firefly question

[Marko Dash]

In Out of Gas, when serenity's life support does down, the majority of the crew get out on the shuttles, which have working LS.

My question is, why didn't they simply use both of the shuttles to filter serenity's air?

Could they also have used the shuttles' engines to get serenity heading for a system? Its slow but better than drifting.

[Stark]

Oh come on, the whole 'zomg powered life support no backups disaster' thing has more problems than that. In any case, in Out of Gas the ship was totally powerless so they'd have had to MOVE to the shuttles.

The shuttles are so short ranged they didn't even discuss the possibility of getting anywhere with them - just the odds that they might run across someone to help them. They couldn't restart the engine, so Serenity was a powerless tomb. Mal only stayed because it's his baby and he's crazy.

Now you'd think they'd have had chemical heaters/filters etc to extend the time the ship was habitable - but again, off the beaten track with no power, they were pretty much fucked unless luck smiled on them.

[Rye]

Yep, Stark's got it all in that golden-light-emitting head of his. It was explained in the show, the shuttles were sent out to boost the signal's chances of being picked up, without which they would've all just died anyway. It's possible the shuttles are powered by batteries juiced by Serenity's reactor and they were running on the reserves when they were sent out to boost the signal.

[Stormbringer]

Now you'd think they'd have had chemical heaters/filters etc to extend the time the ship was habitable - but again, off the beaten track with no power, they were pretty much fucked unless luck smiled on them.

There's also the fact that Serenity is essentially a junker and they probably don't have the safety equipment and redundancies that may be available to other ships. The very condition of Serenity probably made the situation worse.

[Stark]

There's also the fact that Serenity is essentially a junker and they probably don't have the safety equipment and redundancies that may be available to other ships. The very condition of Serenity probably made the situation worse.

Yeah, their constant poverty probably explains it, but I prefer to think it's Mal fighting the System Spacecraft Association by saying 'nah fuckit I'm not checking my emergency beacon or equipment'. In this case it wouldn't have made much difference - they'd have just lived a bit longer before dying.

[B5B7]

Of course the whole idea of loss of life support on a spaceship seen in so many TV shows and movies (& also in some novels such as those of Jack McDevitt) is pretty retarded, but in using the shuttles Firefly is one up on ST:TNG who never think of options such as using their shuttles.

[Stark]

Of course the whole idea of loss of life support on a spaceship seen in so many TV shows and movies (& also in some novels such as those of Jack McDevitt) is pretty retarded, but in using the shuttles Firefly is one up on ST:TNG who never think of options such as using their shuttles.

At least IIRC Out of Gas had them a) lose their atmosphere and b) the fire + explosion damaged their systems to ruin their life support. It wasn't like Star Trek, where you turn off the power and suddenly life support is impossible.

[tim31]

There's also the fact that Serenity is essentially a junker and they probably don't have the safety equipment and redundancies that may be available to other ships. The very condition of Serenity probably made the situation worse.

Yeah, their constant poverty probably explains it, but I prefer to think it's Mal fighting the System Spacecraft Association by saying 'nah fuckit I'm not checking my emergency beacon or equipment'. In this case it wouldn't have made much difference - they'd have just lived a bit longer before dying.

KAYLEE: Where's the cargo bay deck?

MAL: (ashamed)I sold it for gas money.

(Ship splutters, stalls)

MAL: (more ashamed)Which I spent on a novelty horn.

(punches console, first bar of 'dixie' plays)

[Ted C]

My question is, why didn't they simply use both of the shuttles to filter serenity's air?

Could they also have used the shuttles' engines to get serenity heading for a system? Its slow but better than drifting.

As others have noted, the shuttles have pretty short range. They also presumably have a small fraction of the thrust of the main engines. Since Mal had specifically requested a course that took them WAY off the beaten track, the shuttles neither had a place to go nor the power/fuel to try to push/tug the ship toward help.

Part of the atmosphere problem was that they'd lost most of it when Mal opened the cargo bay to put out the fire. Combined with a single point of failure on the power supply and no replacement part (oops), they simply didn't have the power in batteries to replace all that lost air.

There are still an assortment of issues that weren't really addressed, such as...

Evacuate to the shuttles, which have working life support, to extend their time. They actually did that, sort of.

Use the space suits. Anyone not hiding in a shuttle should be able to get at least an hour or so of extra time from one of the suits. If there's only one person actually in the ship to monitor communications, that person can wear suits in series.

[loomer]

Actually, Ted, Jayne prepped a suit for Mal if it came down to it. So it's probably safe to assume they'd done the same with the others and stocked the shuttles. The only reason Mal didn't use it is because he's a crazy bastard and didn't want to drag it out particularly.

[Kojiro]

When I was watching this episode, particularly where Mal is struggling to get around I couldn't help thinking 'so much trouble and he's still got the artificial gravity powered somehow...'

[Nieztchean Uber-Amoeba]

Another +1 for Firefly: Mal actually asked about the auxiliary life support, but the explosion knocked it out too.

[Winter]

When I was watching this episode, particularly where Mal is struggling to get around I couldn't help thinking 'so much trouble and he's still got the artificial gravity powered somehow...'

Well, Serenity wasn't out of power at any point, just air. It's perfectly believable (to me, anyway) for artificial gravity to function independently from main life support.

Regards,
Winter

[Kojiro]

KAYLEE: Well. It's worse'n just the coil.
MAL: How can it be worse?
KAYLEE: Main life-support's down on account of the engine being dead.

Their life support is clearly powered by the engine and it's a reasonable assumption that gravity is likewise powered.

[Gandalf]

Perhaps there was a backup gravity generator that wasn't affected by the explosion?

[Winter]

KAYLEE: Well. It's worse'n just the coil.
MAL: How can it be worse?
KAYLEE: Main life-support's down on account of the engine being dead.

Their life support is clearly powered by the engine and it's a reasonable assumption that gravity is likewise powered.

MAL: But we got auxiliary life support--
KAYLEE: No, we don't. Fire musta knocked it out.

If auxiliary life support isn't powered by the engine, then why should auxiliary gravity be powered by the engine? Serenity had lights, consoles, communication and power to move the cargo bay doors. The only reason auxiliary life support wasn't working was because of the fire.

Regards,
Winter

[Kojiro]

I suppose there could be an auxiliary grav generator. It's far from impossible, but given the non essential nature of it I'd be surprised if there was one. If there was, I'd be pulling it apart quick smart to power the life support if at all possible. Then again, maybe it just doesn't have the juice.

[Kojiro]

The above was to Gandalf btw. Apologies for the double post.

Just to clarify, my initial thought was more along the lines of 'they still have power for gravity but not power for life support'. The exact damage to the auxiliary life support is unknown, so it could be in any state from a loose connection to totally trashed, but the main system was just lacking power.

[Zixinus]

It might be possible that somehow the smoke and fire knocked out whatever oxygen recycler they had but didn't damage other systems.

[Ted C]

When I was watching this episode, particularly where Mal is struggling to get around I couldn't help thinking 'so much trouble and he's still got the artificial gravity powered somehow...'

That depends on how the AG works, I suppose. Technically, the system only uses energy when something in the ship "falls", converting some of its potential energy into kinetic energy. If Mal doesn't go descend from a high deck to a lower deck much, he really isn't taking much of the stored energy out of the system. In fact, if he climbs from a lower deck to a higher deck, the could theoretically be passing energy back to the system. Depending on inefficiency losses and the amount of storage in the "AG battery", the ship could theoretically have gravity for quite a while after the ship loses main power.

And it's not like they lost ALL power. They still had lights and communications, after all.

[Winter]

The above was to Gandalf btw. Apologies for the double post.

Just to clarify, my initial thought was more along the lines of 'they still have power for gravity but not power for life support'. The exact damage to the auxiliary life support is unknown, so it could be in any state from a loose connection to totally trashed, but the main system was just lacking power.

See, I think there's supposed to be more to the Firefly engine than just providing power and thrust. Maybe the life support is dependent on the spin of the engine, some kind of pumping action, or whatever.

She's a curious old bird, she is . . .

Regards,
Winter

[Kon_El]

In shows like firefly effort is made to explain as little about how technology works which can cause problems in episodes like this.

Its still better than startrek where they would have just reversed the polarity on some stupid made up sounding device and fix everything.