(In Firefly, if you are not, you know, in the know.)
Assuming that Gabriel and Regan (I had to look it up) Tam weren't totally awful parents, I'd think they'd start to ask a few questions once the arrest warrents started circulating. And I'd certainly expect someone official would want to have a long conversation with them shortly after River's escape. So what are they up to over the course of the show (and beyond)? Have they simply been disappeared? Or have they been told that, say, Simon went crazy and kidnapped River and could they possibly help find them?
On a related note, just what did they know, or think they knew, about the school by the time Simon is getting into trouble? It isn't clear from "Safe"; Gabriel isn't in the mood for a man to man conversation about the details when he bails Simon out. But you'd think the school would be looking pretty sketchy by that point.
(Of course, when we consider the producers' track record with fathers. . .)
Posted by Jason Abbadon (Member # 882) on :
Mabye they were blacklisted by the government, or mabye the Tams were good little drones and did not rock the boat (likely from their attitude towards Simon) and were just used as potential bait for Simon/River to eventually make contact with them.
They're probably under close survalience but not arrest would be my guess: the Tams are rich and rich folk dont easily disappear without reprecussions.
Posted by Reverend (Member # 335) on :
Seamed to me like they were to institutionalised within the system to notice anything truely sinister going on. I imagine they've effectivly disowned Simon and as for River, well who says the arrest warrents are public knowledge on the core worlds? It could be just the local feds & police forces that have the wanted posters and I can't see a couple of well-to-do pillars of the community spending time looking up the Alliance's 10 most wanted list. So it's possibel they think she's still in school. If not then they might have assumed that Simon & River have just run off on some childish adventure and are too concerned with being publicly shamed to risk looking for them openly. It's quite likely that this is something that Whedon planned to touch on somewhere down the road.
Posted by Aban Rune (Member # 226) on :
I always figured they just kind of fell in line and disowned Simon. They probably know that Simon kidnapped her, but have likely been given a cover story that he grabbed her from school after attacking several of her instructors. The Alliance may even have a cover facility set up that is actually a school.
Posted by MinutiaeMan (Member # 444) on :
Ooh, I never thought of that idea about a fake "real" school. That's twisted.
I got the feeling from watching "Safe" that the Tams were probably honest, upright citizens of the Alliance. Meaning they probably know that Simon did something really drastic, which would explain why he disappeared. I think that Simon's almost certainly been disowned at this point, but who knows how involved they might be in the manhunt? Because if they know that Simon kidnapped River, then they might decide to get actively involved in the case in order to help their daughter ('cause they obviously never believed that she was in trouble), and would want to get her back to the Academy.
Therefore, my guess is either that the Alliance has specifically told the Tams to sit tight while they recover Simon and River, or else they were spun a story about Simon being captured during the kidnap attempt, and the Tams believe he's rotting in prison (and they'd have no interest in visiting or hearing from him) and River's safe back at the Academy. And the Alliance can easily send the Tams fake letters to make them believe whatever they want.
Either way, it's a cinch that Whedon planned to do something with the story somewhere down the road. (This is where I'd rail at FOX again, if I weren't sick of doing that already...)
Posted by WizArtist II (Member # 1425) on :
Maybe they were relocated to Miranda and just didn't care anymore.
Posted by Aban Rune (Member # 226) on :
Heh! Maybe!!
We're talking about Firefly. This is serious.
Posted by Shik (Member # 343) on :
Anal probing.
I suspect they were Renko'd...if anyone else here has ever read Gorky Park.
Posted by Malnurtured Snay (Member # 411) on :
Ma Tam ran off with a Parisian diplomat and didn't show up for work the next day.
Posted by Shik (Member # 343) on :
Actually, she ran off to court Admiral Chegwidden.
Posted by Malnurtured Snay (Member # 411) on :
No, she got knocked up by one of the Baldwin brothers.
Posted by bX (Member # 419) on :
Egads, can there be a worser fate? I mean except Alec. Mmm, Alec.
For what it's worth there are some significant departures from the episode as shot and the shooting script with maybe a little more information about who the Tam parents are and how they fit into Alliance culture. Mostly with the being afraid of their government and what it might do/have done to their children.