The River Tam Sessions

[Mistermoonlight]

I'm going to suggest that we watch the River Tam sessions in chronological order, rather than the order they were released. I know that sounds like blasphemy, given the problems caused by the actual series episodes being aired out of order.

To me, the story is a lot easier to follow this way. Joss intended for the story to loop around back onto itself, much like Quentin Tarentino did in Pulp Fiction.

I'm putting both versions up in preparation for our Synchro-Watch, but remember not to watch them yet!

The one on top is the chronological version, the one on bottom has the sections as they were released in order on the net.

And, if you'd like to talk about which version we should watch, sound off here.


P.S. All of them have closed captioning, however, it's that awful, practically useless closed captioning which seems to use bad word recognition software, and bears little resemblence to what is actually said. However, the video is only about 8 minutes long.

[AntiArbitrator]

Thank you for providing the videos for us.

I would like to follow your suggestion and watch in chronological order.

I enjoyed pulp fiction because of its unique characters. Chronological order would have been fine with me.

[Mistermoonlight]

T-minus 2 minutes and counting.

Remember, we're watching the top version.

All my cats just ran off the back porch into the woods. I think River scares them.

[Watchtower]

Locked and loaded and ready to launch.

[Mistermoonlight]

As the sessions go on, you can see the deterioration in River, as a result of what they are doing to her.

[Mistermoonlight]

Ok, assuming you've seen the whole thing now, if you remember from the series, Simon was able to tell that they'd been doing brain surgery on River.

She talks about 'having a mission.' Was the mission she was given by Dr. Mathias to kill the interviewer in these sessions? And there's always been a little debate among fans as to whether she did it with her brain, or the pen. Personally, it looks like she used the pen to me.

So, our big question is, did she do this of her own free will or not?

By the way, the counselor in the video is actually Joss Whedon himself.

[AntiArbitrator]

My goodness, they tortured her through 416 sessions. She was amazing throughout the video. As early as session 22, she told the doctor they were hurting her and that she wanted a transfer. Poor River. She knew they had lost one of the subjects and had to continue to endure the torture despite that knowledge.

Her mental skills were honed long before she left the asylum. She knew what the doctor was thinking, and somehow she knew Simon was looking for her. I'm still processing.

[Watchtower]

Um... wow. That was very very intriguing. For me, it was like seeing a session backwards from mock sessions I've done in class. Well, except for the face that this is just Science Fiction, of course.

Yeah, Simon noticed they cut her amygdala... I remember that. About the mission, that could be possible, since we know she can and has no problem with shooting to kill, and that time where she sliced Jayne's chest. Did she do it of her own free will, I want to say, not likely. Since they did mess with her brain, they might have convinced her of one thing and she may not have known it was wrong, since Simon did describe her as 'child-like' meaning maybe she doesn't know what she's doing... or if she knows it's wrong.

[Mistermoonlight]

Jul 24, 2012 20:46:28 GMT -5 AntiArbitrator said:

My goodness, they tortured her through 416 sessions. She was amazing throughout the video. As early as session 22, she told the doctor they were hurting her and that she wanted a transfer. Poor River. She knew they had lost one of the subjects and had to continue to endure the torture despite that knowledge.

Her mental skills were honed long before she left the asylum. She knew what the doctor was thinking, and somehow she knew Simon was looking for her. I'm still processing.

Exactly. It's very obvious that she has some kind of precognitive abilities from viewing these clips.

[AntiArbitrator]

Jul 24, 2012 20:42:42 GMT -5 Mistermoonlight said:

Ok, assuming you've seen the whole thing now, if you remember from the series, Simon was able to tell that they'd been doing brain surgery on River.

She talks about 'having a mission.' Was the mission she was given by Dr. Mathias to kill the interviewer in these sessions? And there's always been a little debate among fans as to whether she did it with her brain, or the pen. Personally, it looks like she used the pen to me.

So, our big question is, did she do this of her own free will or not?

By the way, the counselor in the video is actually Joss Whedon himself.

I do not think we ever saw River use telekinetic power, but it is conceivable that she could have used her mind to send the pen into the doctor's throat. While watching the video, I wondered why the doctor would let her get close enough with the pen to use it on him unless he was just curious to see what she would do.

Dr. Mathias seems like the type of person who would give River a mission to kill someone. I think he brainwashed her into killing the doctor.

Joss Whedon was the doctor? I bet everyone enjoyed that.

[Mistermoonlight]

Yes, and as a writer, very appropriate that he was killed with a pen, don't you think?

Quotes from interviews about it:

SimonWho: "Summer, was it fun stabbing Joss in the throat with a pen?"
Summer: "Always a good laugh!"


"'So River killed you with your own pen?'
"Joss: 'Yes, River stabbed me in the throat with a pen - seemed appropriate.'

And, of course, that final scene of River looking out at us through the camera into the internet and saying "I see you" is pretty creepy, too.

[AntiArbitrator]

Yes, very appropriate indeed. Knowing how much her fans love her, I imagine she loved doing that final scene with the "I see you" line. She is very talented.

[Watchtower]

I agree, she is very talented.

[Mistermoonlight]

From what I've read this was one of the earlier forays into viral marketing on the internet. It was very new at the time. Although the events in the video occured before the actual series, they were released over a number of months before the movie, and served to set it up pretty well.

Have you seen Summer Glau in The Sarah Connor Chronicles? It's another excellent series (not a Joss Whedon one) that Fox cut down in it's prime. Although it got two seasons they ended it on a pivotal spot that was going to propell us into the third season.

Summer was great--she played a Terminator sent back in time to protect John Connor when he was a boy.

Joss Whedon also had another wonderful series called Dollhouse that ended too soon, thanks to Fox. It starred Eliza Dushku, who played Faith on Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and Summer had a wonderful role on three episodes of that show as well.

[AntiArbitrator]

Jul 24, 2012 21:14:44 GMT -5 Mistermoonlight said:

From what I've read this was one of the earlier forays into viral marketing on the internet. It was very new at the time. Although the events in the video occured before the actual series, they were released over a number of months before the movie, and served to set it up pretty well.

Have you seen Summer Glau in The Sarah Connor Chronicles? It's another excellent series (not a Joss Whedon one) that Fox cut down in it's prime. Although it got two seasons they ended it on a pivotal spot that was going to propell us into the third season.

Summer was great--she played a Terminator sent back to protect John Connor when he was a boy.

Thank you for reminding me of where I had seen her before. Now it is clear in my mind. I enjoyed that series and I enjoyed Summer's performance. I was disappointed when it was not renewed.

[AntiArbitrator]

I watched a couple episodes of DollHouse, but I don't think I saw Summer. The title caused me to think it was about a house full of women who were held captive for the pleasure of men. By the time I realized the talents the women had, it was too late to get involved in the series. Would you give it two thumbs up?

[Mistermoonlight]

Yes, I would. I enjoyed it a lot, and was very sad when it was over. The show got better and better as it went on, and I thought the second season was excellent.

I've never seen anyone do the kind of acting Eliza did on the series, where she was literally a completely different person from episode to episode. It was amazing.

[AntiArbitrator]

Thank you. I enjoy series marathons. I will put DollHouse on the list. You have never steered me wrong.

[Watchtower]

I only just heard about Dollhouse like a week ago... I wondered if it was good. I'll search for it and start recording.

I did watch the Sarah Connor Chronicles, it was a wonderful series!

[AntiArbitrator]

I don't see a thread yet for Serenity, but I must post. They made me scream when it looked like the teacher hurt River.

[Watchtower]

Since it's a movie, I posted it in the movie section.

[AntiArbitrator]

Thanks.