Space Zombies
The first thing we learn about the Reavers on Joss Whedon’s Firefly is that when they take a ship: “they’ll rape us to death, eat our flesh, and sew our skins into their clothing – and if we’re very very lucky, they’ll do it in that order.” In the show we see Reaver ships, but not the Reavers themselves. We do see a guy who emulates Reaver behaviour. He cuts his own tongue in half and jumps on top of an Alliance officer, screaming and bleeding and attacking him. We see more of them in the movie Serenity, but everything suggests Reavers are not big thinkers.
Attack, scream, rape, eat seems to be their motto. And sewing, oddly. We all watch Star Trek right? Who the fuck is the Reaver captain? Who is the engineer? I’m going to assume they have neither a chief medical officer nor a ship’s counselor. You need to have some kind of organization to run a ship. Where are we going? Who is going to plot the course for the ship to get there? How would a discussion be had about this? Reavers seem not much different than zombies.
Space zombies (that can rape and sew) would be an isolated threat. “Oh my God, zombies took over the space station,” would mean you can’t go back to that space station anymore. Unless a space zombie accidentally gets inside an escape pod that launches, that zombie problem is isolated. They would not have ships, destinations, or air space as the movie Serenity suggests. If there is such a thing as a Reaver chef I’m not sure I would want to try his eggs.
Discussion (24) ¬
another thing we never addressed: all that raping must end in a few children. do they raise them? or do the babies just come out crazy and full of rage.
I believe a comic is in order where we put out our own theory about Reaver children…
The fact they generally don’t leave any survivors kinda makes that a moot point.
CheckMATE automaton
I never thought about this before, but do Reavers basically = infectees of the 28 Days Later “Rage” virus in space? There’s never anything said about if they transfer their evil Pax infection to the places they visit, is there?
Keep in mind that as of events in Serenity they had only been around for about 10 years…and the Pax wasn’t an infection, they were basically poisoned into going bugfuck nuts. :P
From what I remember, they weren’t braindead, just mostly insane with rage. They probably just retained enough of what they used to be that they wouldn’t immediately die.
Ah, good ol’ Firefly… You make some very valid points here. How is a guy who cuts his tongue in half expected to safely enter a planet’s atmosphere and touch down without killing his whole crew, should he be the pilot? Would be quite the amusing scenario though.
Man1: “Hey look. It’s the Reavers. Should we… run and tell the others?”
Man2: “Nah. These idiots don’t even know how to initiate the landing protocol. The problem will take care of itself. I’m surprised they even know how to fly the damned ships.”
*crash* BOOM.
They certainly wouldn’t be as scary would they? In a more logical universe the Reavers are merely pitied, but not feared.
You’re probably not far from right; we already know that they fly their ships without any reactor containment. Anyone stupid enough to spend large amounts of time trapped in close proximity to a leaking fusion bomb is probably not the best of pilots to boot.
This is perfect.
I think the idea was that the Reavers are much more violent in nature, and that they have formed cultural rituals around their violence. Cannibalism and rape have been elements of culture in the past, why not throw it all together into a chaotic evil and allow it to work itself out?
In Serenity we find out that the EXTREME members of the alliance FBI basically wanted to chemtrail a planet with a drug that made certain that nobody would ever again go against the alliance (endless peace for a price) but the drug made people just sit still until they died OR BECOME FUCKING REAVERS…
Reavers are basically Anarchists+an insane asylum.
That’s a good formula. Anarchists + insane asylum = Reavers. I bet if Firefly had continued Whedon would have added some textual evidence that suggested their insane behaviour was ritualistic. But sadly he did not get that chance. Good for us though. I like this comic :)
The idea behind Reavers is that they’re just insane. Raving mad. They can still think up and execute plans, and their motor skills (for the most part) are not affected. They’ve just become so mindlessly violent and aggressive that their status quo is generally ruining everybody’s day with the forementioned raping, killing, etc.
So can you really see these raving mad collective agreeing on a course? Plotting one?
For those who really loved this show and woendr about the Blue sun/hands of blue. (You actually see them in the scene where simon rescues river) The reason Blue sun and hand of blue isn’t in the film is explained in the comic that was released before Serenity. This is a must have for all Firefly fans. This also explain the reason Book and Inara isn’t on the ship any more. (amozonlink to the comic )There is also another comic about serenity. a0|a0
Everybody? This man has the answers. He is Zod. Kneel before him.
I do see the Reavers having a de facto culture of sorts. I’d advise checking out 1985’s Warning Sign, with Sam Waterston and Kathleen Quinlin, for an interesting precursor to 28 days later and the Reavers. The victims in that film were infected with a weaponized Rage virus of sorts that causes minimal bleeding from the tear ducts and fingernails. They could recognize each other, but when exposed to non-infected the rage took over and they attacked.
That’s how I see the Reavers, as having some culture and co-operation when among themselves, even intelligence, with possibly ranks and positions, and the the more primal urges are subconscious urges that grow stronger until they must raid.. But when they get on the ground, or in a ship with outsiders, then the more primal side takes almost completely over. (But not completely, as they are still smart enough to take prisoners.)
First of all: I love you. Second of all: I will check that out.
In fact, they might even be smart enough to have some Pax with them, and pump it into snared ships. This fits with the theory that they prefer rape and torture previous to the kill, and also better explains the “Reaved” guy left behind in Bushwacked than the theory that he was “brain-washed”.
And they would control and orchestrate this Pax?
man there are a lot of comments on this comic. what the hell is going on here. whatever your point was about reavers, YOU’RE WRONG. remember that.
They’re not zombies, they’re just savages. Ever read Garth Ennis’ ‘Crossed’ ? Yeah. Reavers are that.The Crossed are fuckin’ crazy but they possess the facility to plan and orchestrate group action.
Yea I’m not married to the term “space zombies.” But group action? I mean you SEE them doing it, but it’s so hard to comprehend them working together.