Remember those Blue Sun Travel Posters I just mentioned from QMx, that haven’t been officially announced yet but will be available at the California Browncoats booth at the San Diego Comic Con this weekend? Only 300 sets, and no more available until the official release weeks from now?
Funny thing… those 300 will now even more limited issue than we thought…
See, since Mal mentioned a planet in the pilot episode of “Firefly” — “…and I’d like to be king of all Londinium and wear a shiny hat…” — there’s been a controversy over that name and whether Mal (or Nathan) just mispronounced it. The shooting script says Londinum. The background material said Londinum. The official handbooks say Londinum, as does the RPG. Even Geoff Mandel (graphic designer for Serenity) said he knew it was Londinum. And so one of the posters invites you to Londinum, “The Past, Present, and Future of Humanity.”
And then Joss posted about the posters at Whedonesque:
Wow. Those are extremely cool. Masterfully designed.
But it’s ‘Londinium’.
But they’re really great!
joss | July 24, 00:37 CET
Which means that those 300 at the Con are truly collector’s items, because QMx will be redoing the poster for the official release. Quoth Andy Gore from QMx:
“We couldn’t be happier that Joss likes what we’re up to in his world. And are glad the whole Londinum/Londinium debate can be put to rest. When it comes to canon, there is no higher authority.”
Actually his first quote was “Whoops,” but this works, too. Here’s some bigger pics of the other, so-far-so-good posters in the set:
The posters will be $35 at the Con, including tax and until the official release they’ll only be available at the California Browncoats booth at A7/A8 along with more great stuff, wonderful people, amazing giveaways, charity works, and now the even-more exclusive Serenity item around. Check the California Browncoats site for more info about the weekend.
Frankly, Londinium always sounded better!
Far as Joss being canon…well…yeah, but…
…until he buys into my “Wash Lives!” outlook,
that only goes so far.
Mike
Can we please have everybody fix all their triangle patches while we’re at it?
The flat part’s supposed to go on top so the star points up.
Jeff
Londinium was the Roman name for London. Common knowledge for anyone who went to an English public school (or studied Latin).
On the patch issue, a reversed American flag is a distress signal. Perhaps the Browncoats took to reversing their insignia when it became clear that the war for independence wasn’t going well. How’s that for a retcon?
I dunno, Deborah. The distress explanation always sounded a bit weak, but it could be ’cause I grew up in the South where even after 150 years, folk still take their flags and such pretty seriously. Keeping your colors upside down is like admitting you got beat, so you fly ’em proud like nothing ever happened and stick it to the purple-bellies that way. 😉
Turns out there’s an extra I in Londinium. Turns out there was a prop error with the patch.
Seriously though, I wouldn’t expect anyone to spend extra money or go out of their way to remake a costume or whatever. But going forward or if we’re just talking 5 minutes with a needle, why not do it the right way?
Jeff
The patch is a little tricky because the triangle point is up and the star point is down on the patch on Mal’s battle coat in the episodes. The idea that the triangle point should be down and the star point should be up comes from the orientation of the lettering on the back of Lt. Baker’s patch.
It is also worthy of note that the Independents’ patches were also rank badges, with the ranks denoted by the color of the outline stitching, colored corners and the combination of both.
Somewhere between Design and Wardrobe, all this was lost.
And, it seems that some uninformed seamstress “just sewed the thing on” like any ol’ triangular patch.
I put my Mal and Zoe discharge display at the bottom of this thread:
http://fireflydvd.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=3541
Where you can see how I chose to display the patches triangle point down and the star point up.
Mike
Gorgeous display, Mike. Totally love it.
Shawna’s design sketches are in the 1st FF Companion, so I’d say that’s a definitive answer. Fascinating about the corner ranks and stitching too.
My sanity’s questionable anyway, but the patch hits the similar peeve of not using “its/it’s” and “there/their” correctly.
Either that or I refuse to be victimized by a wardrobe malfunction.
Jeff
“Shawna’s design sketches are in the 1st FF Companion, so I’d say that’s a definitive answer.”
Heh … that’s what I thought about “Londinium!”