Segment from an Alan Tudyk interview at Fanboy Expo in Knoxville, answering a fan’s question: “What’s your favorite animated character and live action character you’ve played?”
Full Video Here
Shoutout to @sonia-angel401 for posting the vid on tumblr as well.
Transcript below the cut:
Fan: "Hi"
Alan: "Hello"
Fan: "So, you do so many shows, animated and real life,"
Alan: Right, right
Fan: "What's your favorite animated character and then your favorite live action character you've done?"
Alan: "My favorite animated character is King Candy, because he was such a good character. He starts out friendly you think, he's very nice and he, ya know, he throws candy at you. And uh... you kinda get that he's a bad guy but you don't know how bad until about halfway through the movie and then he's-- he's Turbo, and he's the worst thing ever, and then he turns into a bug and becomes even worse. He tries to beat a cute little girl with candy stuck in her hair with a car antenna. And then-- and then he wants to kill 'em all, he's the worst. Oh, I love it. Uh, so he's great, um, and he kinda does an Ed Wynn voice [unintelligible King Candy noises] um, and that was my first role for Disney so it really kinda started my whole relationship with them."
Alan: "Uh, and then, I have... I like Wash, because Wash in Serenity-- er I mean Firefly, he... he's the closest character to me. Ya know, I play so many different roles that are very, very different, which is great and fun, but I rarely get to play characters like myself, and that was, especially back then, a smartass. Uh, just a guy-- I mean I didn't fly spaceships, I'll say that. But other than that, um, ya know just wants to-- everybody else will be like "let's-- we can shoot 'em this way or we can blow 'em up this way, we can do this", and I'll be like "why don't we run?" I mean, it seems like a good option, no one has to die, and we leave. How about that? Let's just leave. Yeah, run. And that seems to be my choice."
This will largely be about gender and sexuality. Some based in actual analysis, some more just because I think it's fun! Important to note that this analysis will discuss all episodes of the series as well as the R. Tam Sessions (available on YouTube), so if you haven't finished it it will contain spoilers. I will not, however, be discussing the movie or anything after the movie, for a variety of reasons but mainly because it makes me sad! So, for example, Zoë's story post-movie won't impact my thoughts on her and Wash. Onto the analysis!!
Mal
I think Mal is bisexual with a preference for women, since he all but says this when Nandi asks if he's sly in Heart of Gold, and also because of the sheer amount of gazing, looking up and down, describing, etc that happens between him and Simon. In terms of gender I like to think that he's cis but dabbles in he/she pronouns, mainly inspired by his conversation with Inara in Our Mrs Reynolds about why he was wearing the dress and not Zoë, with the implication that he's worn dresses before. And obviously gender nonconformity isn't inherently queer, but I think Mal would be more feminine with people he's close to (if he ever actually let anyone get close to him. Intimacy issues and all). [edit: due to some cut lines in The Train Job, I think he's a trans man. Discussed more here]
Zoë
Zoë I think is bi and demisexual/demiromantic, largely because I just can't imagine her with anyone but Wash, and we can extrapolate from the flashback in Out of Gas that it takes her a while to get close to him. This may also be me projecting as someone who's demisexual/demiromantic, but I digress.
Wash
I think Wash is also bi, but I think he's allo on both counts, and I do think him and Mal might've hooked up before he and Zoë got together (which I think plays into his jealousy in War Stories, but I haven't quite fleshed that idea out). I'm kind of torn on whether I think he's trans, because his fashion is veeeeery stereotypically transmasc, he goes by a nickname, he's shorter than Zoë, I know more than one transmasc who's autistic about dinosaurs, and about 2/3 of the queer people I've info dumped about Firefly to have imagined him as a transmasc butch. But I just can't imagine anyone choosing to name themselves "Hoban" (especially if they then go by a nickname), and it's not a very feminine name (the relevance of this will be discussed in Jayne's section). If I think on it a bit more I might be able to come up with a workaround for that, but as it stands I reckon he's cis. [edit: he/they nonbinary Wash!!]
Inara
Demisexual, polyamorous, and bi. Her being bisexual is basically implied canon, since she services men and women, and makes a point of choosing her own clients. We don't know enough about Companions as a whole to know if servicing both men and women is the norm or if it varies from person to person, so there is some wiggle room, but I'm a big fan of Inara and Kaylee as a ship so I choose to believe she's bi regardless. She also talks a lot about the emotional aspect of being a Companion, which I interpret as demisexuality, and possibly related to her promising Mal that she won't service him or anyone under his employ. But I do think if/when she and Kaylee start dating, she'd make a distinction between servicing someone (as a job) and a committed relationship. In addition, since being a Companion entails having multiple lovers that she's sexually and emotionally invested in, I consider that a form of polyamory/open relationship, so if she did date someone she would continue doing her job, and they'd have to be okay with that for them and Inara to be compatible (for similar reasons, I don't think it makes a lot of sense for her to be jealous of Saffron and Nandi, especially to the point of lashing out at Mal, but that's a separate post).
Jayne
So number one I think he's a trans man. That's my biggest thing here, largely because his name is Jayne (this also applies to Tracey), but also because (similar to Wash) his fashion sense is very trans to me, what with the cargo pants, vaguely cropped jackets, and extensive collection of graphic tees and muscle tanks. I think the Alliance doesn't outright criminalise being trans, but makes it very difficult and expensive to access medical and legal transitions (inspired by my ongoing experience with the absolute hellscape that is trying to change your name and sex marker with the Australian Tax Office), especially on the Rim, so a lot of people go with diy/black market HRT and, in Jayne's case, looking intimidating enough that no one questions your name (River doesn't fall for this because, as she says in Trash, she can kill him with her brain). I do NOT think he'd trust Simon with his hormones, especially if managing them himself had been working fine, and I think he's had phalloplasty (I also think that in the Core they have very fancy technology and techniques that lead to minimal, if any, skin graft scarring, but the Rim doesn't have access to that, so Jayne does have the scar on his arm. Simon doesn't recognise it as a phalloplasty scar because he's got little to no experience with queer people on the Rim, as will be discussed in his section). I also think his family was supportive, and just kind of gaslit everyone into thinking they'd always had a son. As for his sexuality, I think he's bi or pan. He just doesn't seem like he'd say no to sex, providing it was all ethical (that "I don't think she's all there, but not all of her has to be" from the first episode doesn't exist to me. He's a dickwad but I don't think he's a rapist). I also think he's romance-repulsed alloromantic.
Kaylee
I think she's a lesbian!! And deep in the throes of comphet, so she thinks she's bi (note! I'm not a lesbian, so if I've misunderstood comphet here at all please feel free to correct me!). I also think she's demisexual, but, due to the comphet, kind of subconsciously tricks herself into hook up with men by focusing on other stuff (engines, for example, as seen in Out of Gas!), and of course I think she's into Inara, but because she thinks Inara is unavailable she resorts to Simon (very similar to Inara in many ways, and also fulfils the patriarchal roles expected of women). I reckon she uses she/they pronouns, and largely identifies as a woman but also doesn't care that much.
Simon
This will involve quite a lot of me projecting, and also a lot of headcanons about what the attitude towards queer people is in the Core. So! First and foremost I think he's gay, and his parents aren't like, explicitly against homosexuality, but definitely had a lot of expectations vis a vis reputation and continuing the family name and stuff, so he picked up on that early and DEEPLY repressed it. That man has repressed almost everything. So his relationship with Kaylee is a rebellion, in a way, because his parents wouldn't consider her "appropriate" for Simon (class, job, homeworld, personality, etc), but he's still pursuing that goal of settling down and having kids, because he hasn't really unpacked anything. I think the attitude to queer people in the Core is largely "do whatever you want, just don't talk about it" (also, I think, related to why they developed phalloplasty techniques that don't scar), especially among high society, but I think the more progressive circles will include very heteronormative gay marriages. In the first R. Tam session (in-universe chronology, not release order), River says that Simon always hates that she can tell what girls he likes, and (this may be my own projection of my relationship with my sibling here) Simon doesn't seem like he'd necessarily hide a lot of things from River. His parents, yes, but not River, and while he might not have discussed crushes with her because she was so young I don't think he'd HATE it if she knew. But I think he would hate it if someone, even the person he's closest to, saw through all that repression and knew something he was trying so desperately to hide from not only the world, but himself. Of course, River also picked up on the "do whatever you want but don't talk about it" attitude, and so lied to protect Simon, just in case it got back to their parents or his job. I think Inara would be particularly instrumental in unpacking his repression, because Inara understands what high society is like, and is very open-minded when it comes to sex and relationships, which I think would be helpful for Simon. I don't think he'd talk much about it with River, because he always prioritises her needs over his own and he wouldn't want to burden her. BUT, I also think he'd be scared to go to any of the rest of the crew for advice, because I think there's a lot of fearmongering in the Core about the Rim's attitudes to queer people (see also the way a lot of people in progressive areas talk about rural communities as if no queer people live there and it's all one big hellscape). So, going back to Jayne's section for a second, the idea of Jayne being trans never crosses his mind despite the phalloplasty scar because a) he hasn't unpacked any of his prior conceptions about the Rim, specifically "queer people only live on rich urban planets", and b) he hasn't trained himself to consider that the Rim doesn't have the same medical supplies the Core has, and he's used to thinking of phalloplasty as something that doesn't scar. But back to Simon's sexuality, Sean Maher has a chronic case of gay voice (said with love, of course), and the way Simon looks at Mal and Jayne sometimes definitely implies a lot. There's one bit in Ariel when he's pitching his heist to the crew and he's handing out medicine that can be sold on the black market, and the way he grabs the bottle back from Jayne just looks like flirting idk. And obviously him and Mal have been very well documented. [edit: tumblr user tamsiblings brought grey and demi sexual/romantic Simon to my attention and I am incorporating that into my belief system as we speak]
River
To preface this section, I'm keenly aware that people will often headcanon disabled people as aroace as a means of infantilising them, and as an autistic person I really relate to the way River is kind of infantilised and dismissed, so that's very much not my aim. As always I'm very open to feedback!!
River I think is sex- and romance-neutral aroace, and also agender. Triple A, if you will. I just feel like she does not care one bit about gender, and feels no desire for any kind of relationship, but she's also open to that changing if she was ever in a position for it. I think when her mental health stabilises, if she met someone she liked that was her age, she'd absolutely form a qpr in a heartbeat. Gender-wise, I don't think she really cares about what pronouns or gendered terms people use to refer to her, with one exception: you can pry Simon (and eventually the rest of the crew I think) calling her mei mei out of her cold dead hands.
Book
Last but certainly not least, I think Book is sex- and romance-negative aroace. The reasoning for this is quite simple; the concept of someone becoming a priest so that they don't have to get married is very funny to me. Mysterious dark past aside, when he's talking to Jayne in Objects in Space about the rules of his order and he says that some allow Shepherds to marry, but he follows a narrower path, says to me that he doesn't want any kind of relationship, God or no God. He also emphasises that he's not a grandpa and he never married twice in the first episode. And I do think his order is very inclusive of diverse identities and other religions - be a good person and you'll be rewarded in the afterlife, regardless of sexuality, gender, religion, whether or not you eat shrimp, etc. I think he views the Bible as a human interpretation of God's word, and as such it's been corrupted over the centuries with people who had agendas they wanted pushed. And I think that attitude is also a big part of helping Simon unpack the fearmongering he's been taught about the Rim.
Lowkey I don't know how to end this post but yeah! Those are my thoughts, please feel free to let me know yours!!
(PLEASE submit a nomination if you agree, it would be a shame not to see him at least in the running)
Wash is the pilot on board the space ship Serenity, and is husband to the second in command, Zoe. While Zoe is a quiet and decisive veteran with a dark past, Wash helps her have fun and laugh with his antics and jokes.
They truly and genuinely love each other, and Wash is nothing but supportive and really looks up to her and all the dangerous work she does. He's functionally a bit of a stay at home wife guy as he's the pilot and she goes out on the missions, and he's always there to welcome her back and insist on a vacation after hard missions.
However, there are times when he pushes back: when Zoe refuses to tell Mal (captain of the ship, Zoe's best friend and war buddy) one of Wash's ideas and lies about it being rejected, Wash gets very frustrated that Zoe isn't taking him seriously and gets envious (note: NOT jealous) of the bond they share from the war. Of course they're able to work it out, and the entire episode hinges around Wash's need to feel listened to and respected- just like he gives Zoe.
Zoe is also the ultimate husband? Woman? In that she would do anything for her husband and loves him to the stars and back. When given the choice between Mal and Wash in a hostage situation, she chooses Wash before the villain can even finish his sentence. To her, the choice isn't even a choice...
