Star Truck David Gerrold Summary

In David Gerrold’s “Star Truck” the author gives examples and arguments to how the writers and creators of Firefly uniquely built the world for this science fiction/western hybrid through subtext, unique philosophical questions, and relatable uses of modern-looking technology. I believe that the author has provided numerous quality examples to demonstrate his opinion on this subject and has done an excellent job and persuading the reader. Gerrold’s writing provides examples from the show Firefly to show how the writers used subtext in lieu of monologues, or other means, to help build their characters. He also argues that a show asking philosophical questions such as “what does it mean to be a human being?” helps to create an intrigue for the audience as other shows, even within that same genre, don’t take the same approach to asking those types of questions, if they’re even asked at all (190). In his writing, Gerrold explains how the use of subtext is greater at providing insight to a character than any other method. Gerrold solidifies his point wit the examples of Mal shooting a federal agent in the head without hesitation (despite him holding someone hostage at gunpoint) and his kicking of an evil henchman in to

Gerrold also points out intricacies in character development, such as Mal kissing the cross around his neck in the original episode of the show and then later stating that God is not welcome on his ship, that I had never noticed