He's not a Sheppard?

[Elite Anubis Guard]

Thsi is interesting, sounded like Joss was setting something up for Book when Early said he wasn't a sheppard.

[Mr Prophet]

Thsi is interesting, sounded like Joss was setting something up for Book when Early said he wasn't a sheppard.

Well, the indication was always that Book was something quite different before he became a Shepherd; something pretty serious in the Alliance, probably either military or political intelligence (c.f. what River hears him say in that episode).

[Elite Anubis Guard]

Shame now though - Serenity spoiler

Spoiler:

He had to go get killed, we may never know

[Mr Prophet]

Well, if they do do a second movie

Spoiler:

I'm hoping to see him in flashback as they dig into his past

.

Of course, his discussion of the Operative in Serenity just confirms that he knows a lot more about how the Alliance do things than most people. Well, that and his skill with AAA.

ETA: Actually, from Serenity,

Spoiler:

it seems most likely that he was an Operative before he lost his political faith and found God.

[Deckker]

Reference to Esp 1 The Pilot.
He asked Inara "is it always like this?"

Strong knowledge in military weapons, tactics and operations, but no idea how is life on the end of known space? We got a massive multi-planet civil war which every character has grown up living or hearing about it. Seriously it does not add up.

In the movie, we know the alliance has the ability to implant knowledge into a person or certain programming. If he is an Operative, then he went through a fair bit of reprogramming.

Spoiler:

Josh has stated that the Operative was made for the movie, so Book's past was already laid out before the movie, at least in concept.

[Mr Prophet]

Reference to Esp 1 The Pilot.
He asked Inara "is it always like this?"

Strong knowledge in military weapons, tactics and operations, but no idea how is life on the end of known space? We got a massive multi-planet civil war which every character has grown up living or hearing about it. Seriously it does not add up.

In the movie, we know the alliance has the ability to implant knowledge into a person or certain programming. If he is an Operative, then he went through a fair bit of reprogramming.

Spoiler:

Josh has stated that the Operative was made for the movie, so Book's past was already laid out before the movie, at least in concept.

Big assumption there. Joss is almost as bad as Jasper Fforde for dropping in all the hints he can find so that he's got things to pick up later. In Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Tara was originally going to be a good demon, before he decided that 'family legend about the women being demons so as to keep the ladies in line' was a better story.

See, I'd assume that Book was a strategy man, except that he clearly knows small arms and artillery. The later Book is far less cloistered than he initially appeared and I woudln't rule out that that was due to changes in writing direction.

The slightly sheltered air could be due to his being in the monastery since the end of the war; he might well have expected things to be better, especially if he was fighting for the Alliance and expecting them to bring the Independents in and make everything better. Or, of course, he might really be shocked by what he's done; by how little he's changed.

[Elite Anubis Guard]

It would definetly be interesting to see him have been an Operative.

[Deckker]

Well it will be a nice surprise. He knows more than small arms. He knows about the space nets and the varies versions.

[Elite Anubis Guard]

I really hope Whedon does something with his past in the next film.

[Ascended Times.2]

I really need to see Serenity!! bugging the hell outta me, trying not to read spoilers aswelll....-starts crying-
Edit:I got he wasn't a proper sheppard after the first episode...

[Carbito]

what River hears him say in that episode

What was that quote? I recall that it was something about being innocent...

[Mr Prophet]

What was that quote? I recall that it was something about being innocent...

Something along the lines of "I don't give a half-a-hump if you are innocent, so where does that leave you?"

[Elite Anubis Guard]

Jayne also says something like "One days you're gonna tell us how a preacher knows so much about crime."

[vonbismarck]

Now I am not as knowledgable about Firefly as probably the rest do as big a fan, not because I don't like it because I doubt it will ever be brought back so no need for me to get into it only to get disappointed. So this might not mean much in this conversation but there was that scene where Book got injured and they took him to an Alliance ship. When they got there, everyone was going to be arrested and nothing was going to be done for Book until they scanned his ID card and then they rushed to get him fixed up. I believe it was also mentioned that a regular Sheppard would not get that kind of reaction.

[Ascended Times.2]

Bite your toungue, firefly will come back! I know it will....!
Also, i saw Serenity a couple of days earlyer and also, I noticed this aswell in the series...