Firefly ep by ep; rewatch and reviews

Discussion in 'Science Fiction & Fantasy' started by saturn5, Aug 4, 2010.

  1. I am not Spock

    I am not Spock Commodore Commodore

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    Australia
    Best hours of TV ever?

    For me, its:

    TOS: City on The Edge of Forever
    TNG: The Inner Light
    DS9: Far Beyond the Stars
    Dr Who: Blink
    Dr Who: Vincent and the Doctor
    Buffy: Hush
    Buffy: Restless
    Buffy: The Body
    Angel: Are You Now or Have You Ever Been?
    Angel: A Hole In The World
    Firefly: Out of Gas
    Firefly: Ariel

    Quality!
     
  2. Forbin

    Forbin Admiral Admiral

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    I said out, dammit!
    There was a Cagney and Lacey episode where Lacey got breast cancer, and Tyne Daly's performance was simply astonishing.

    (Just pointing out there's other great TV besides our genre :))

    In genre, I'd like to add the Haloween and Thanksgiving episodes of Alien Nation: The series.
     
  3. Pauln6

    Pauln6 Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    Mal was voted the second most popular sci fi hero in a recent poll (Dr Who was first and Kirk was only 12th!). Is there a single person out there who thinks they were right to can this show? Grrrrr
     
  4. saturn5

    saturn5 Fleet Captain Fleet Captain

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    You pipped me at the post for 'Who monitors the birds?' I would also add;
    Classic BSG-The Return of Starbuck
    New BSG-Scar
    Star Trek; Deep Space 9-In the pale moonlight
    and the ep of Ultraviolet whose name I can't recall but in which Vaughn is trapped in the warehouse with the sealed vampire coffins just as the sun starts to set

    ARIEL

    The good;
    Lot's of it, if I were to have 2 favourite scenes it would be the admissions nurse just casually accepting the dead bodies into the hospital and Mal remembering what drugs to take by writing it on his hand. Mal's final interrogation of Jayne also excellent, you get the idea he saves him to spare the rest of the crew having to deal with his betrayal rather than for his own sake. The scene where River, Simon and Jayne flee the blue-gloves is a masterclass in building suspense, they haven't seen anything but the approaching screams of their victims coupled with River's terrified babbling produce a real sense of dread.

    The bad;
    Simon saving the patient is very blatantly designed to make us feel better about the crew stealing medicine from a hospital (but I love River's smile of pride when he does it).

    Best line;
    Inara; "What have you guys been up to?"
    Kaylee; "Oh, we killed Simon and River, stole a bunch of medicine"

    Kinky dinky;
    Wash wants to take Zoe to a naked beach

    Notches on the Serenity bedpost;
    Inarra;1-a paying customer who wishes to make her his kept woman, 1 possible, Atherton.
    Wash; 1-the missus
    Zoe; 1-the hubby
    Kaylee;1-Bester

    Capt subtext;
    Inara is going for a medical examination which she says is routine. But if we follow the theory that she's actually sick ....? Mal once again demonstrates his intimacy with Kaylee, hugging her in a very familar fashion at the end.

    How'd they get away with that?
    The blue gloved men repeatedly cutting into River's head to perfom brain surgery, ugh! Then to top it all they slaughter the cops with a device which causes uncontrollable bleeding from it's victims.

    Total Serenity crew; 8 for this ep, Book is 'away at an abbey'? Do we ever get any other explanation than that? Simon refers to Serenity as 'home'. Mal makes it clear that he continues Jayne's act of betrayal against any of the crew to be against them all
    Mal, Zoe, Jayne, Wash, Kaylee, Inarra, Simon, River

    Subverting the Hollywood cliche;
    Simon teaches Mal, Zoe and Jayne enough ER speak to get into the hospital but the admitting nurse just accepts their word as paramedics that the patients died. But Jayne's put so much effort into learning all these medical terms he insists on using them. Which I think is very human. When struggling with the guard it's Jayne who is the one to be bitten when it's normally the other way around, the hero is the one who traditionally does the biting to even the odds against a superior oppenent.

    Whedon cliches;
    Devoted siblings, haunted charismatic leading man. Teenage girls with superpowers. Hookers. Babbling insane girls with truth in their madness. Fake cockneys. Misguided religious zealots. Numbered t-shirts. Girls with botanical names (Willow, Saffron, Jasmine). Absent fathers. Clever use of extensive flashbacks

    Bondage; Simon, River and Jayne in cuffs
    Mal; 1
    River; 1
    Simon; 1
    River; 1
    Jayne; 1

    Knocked out; Simon and River drugged into near death. Jayne knocked out by Mal.
    Book; 2
    Simon; 2
    Kaylee; 1
    Jayne;2
    Mal; 1
    Wash; 1
    Inara; 1
    Zoe; 1
    River; 1

    Kills; Jayne kills the Alliance marshall with his bare hands
    Mal; 11-
    Zoe; 6-
    Jayne; 7-

    Happy high-class hookers in Space;
    Inara is expected to undergo a standard medical as a companion once a year (or is she? see subtext). She states the Companion policy about non-commercial dating is 'complicated'.

    Whedon alumni- Joss likes to reuse the same actors in his series, let's count up their appearances (let me know if I miss any)
    Nathan Fillon-3; Firefly, Caleb in S7 of Buffy and Dr Horrible
    Gina Torres-2; Firefly and Jasmine in S4 of Angel
    Alan Tudyk-2; Firefly and the villainous/heroic(?) Alpha in Dollhouse (haven't seen season 2 so don't spoil it for me)
    Adam Baldwin-2; Firefly and Marcus Hamilton in S5 of Angel
    Summer Glau-3; Firefly, Dollhouse and the prima ballerina in the LEGENDARY S4 Angel ep 'Waiting in the wings'.
    Carlos Jacott-3; The Fed in Firefly, Ken in the 'Anne' ep of Buffy and Richard Straley in 'The Bachelor Party' ep of Angel.
    Andy Umberger;3-the captain of the Dortmunder in Firefly, D'Hoffryn in Buffy, the psychic surgeon in the Angel ep 'I fall to pieces'.
    Mark Shepherd;2-Badger in Firefly and later turns up as one of Ballard's FBI colleagues in Dollhouse. Also a BSG alumni.
    Jeff Rickets;3- one of the blue handed men in Firefly and Weatherby on Buffy/Angel plus the spiderdemon at the end of Angel season 4
    Gregg Henry; 2- he's one of those faces that occur time and again in TV/movies, the Sherrif in The Train Job and he later recurrs in the Dollhouse ep 'Ghost', one of my favourite eps of season 1.
    Christina Hendricks; 2-Saffron in Firefly and a bar maid in the Angel ep 'The Prodigal'. She'll later star in Mad Men with Whedonverse alumni Vincent Kartheiser.
    Ira Steck; 2-The intern here and the vamp Buffy fights in 'Lies my parents told me'.
    Michael Nagy; 3-one of the hospital staff here, the Rat Pack vamp Jay-Don in the Angel ep 'The Shroud of Rahmon' and Alfonse (one of vampWillow's lackeys) in the Buffy ep Dopplegangland.
    Cathy Cohen; 2-the admitting nurse here and the estate agent who hits on cool Xander in the Buffy ep The Replacement.

    Alliance good or bad?;
    Zoe and Mal are so rabidly anti-Alliance they won't even set foot on a core world or even look out the window (afraid they might like what they see?). The rest of the crew doesn't share their prejudice and are keen to to get off the ship, Kaylee never having been on a core planet before. Does Mal protect River and Simon from the goodness of his heart or to stick 2 fingers up to the Alliance? The Serenity crew steal medecine from a hospital, sure they can replace it but still?
    On the other hand the blue-gloved men have conducted horrific medical experiments on River and brutally slaughter a station full of cops just because they heard River talk?

    Firefly speak;
    Gorram=goddam.
    Weak tea=not good
    Back birth=idiot
    Companion=high class courtesan
    Gengish=competent
    Doh-ma=understand/understood?
    Rutting=bloody (or perhaps 'fraking'?)
    Chin-cha-da=hell
    Purple belly=officious bureaucrat
    Ta-gow=Oh god!
    Won-gwa-pee= to urinate or defecate
    Gosa=excrement
    Tien-sha-duh=rubbish
    Los-soh-ret=crap
    Dien-dyododo-chowen=bastard
    Wah=what the hell?
    Mah song=quickly
    Jin-seen-yung=idiot
    Nu-shu-quong=nice going
    Mai-hong=hello
    Sheinou-niou=no good
    Mei, mei=ok(?)

    Shot; Jayne shot by some form of stun weapon
    Mal; 2-
    Kaylee;1-
    Jayne;2-
    Book;1-

    Crew injured;
    Jayne viciously sliced by River and gives her a busted lip in return. Jayne busted up by the guards and by Mal.

    Reminds me off;
    Simon saving the patient is a scene right out of The Fugitive whilst the blue-gloves are very X-files. Forget to mention it in Out of Gas but of course Bester is the name for both a famous sci-fi author and Walter Koenig's character from Babylon 5.

    Questions and observations;
    Ironically the ambulance is a Soviet Hind-model helicopter gunship in disguise. What does 'copper for a kiss' mean? Is it like 'Penny for the guy'?
    Why do the blue-glove men seem to kill anyone who has heard River talk, even Alliance police? To cover up the secret of what they did to her or does she have some form psychic illness that they're scared she's passing on? Ironically the one time they actually make some decent money it's all the idea of Simon, who Book aside is probably the least criminally inclined of the entire crew, even Jayne impressed by his plan.
    Do they sell the drugs they steal for their medical or narcotic value?
    .
    Marks out of 10; 8/10, very good stuff, hugely entertaining, we see the Firefly crew pull off a complicated heist and do it with much more aplomb than the Scoobygang or Angel investigations ever managed. We think the main character of the piece is going to be Simon but in a clever turnabout instead it actually turns out to be Jayne and his crisis of conscience is very well written and acted by all.
     
  5. Lindley

    Lindley Moderator with a Soul Premium Member

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    My read was that it was simply establishing Simon's doctor credentials. We've seen him working before, but this puts him back into the context he no doubt came from, giving us a glimpse of what he's given up for River.
     
  6. saturn5

    saturn5 Fleet Captain Fleet Captain

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    and she was letting him do it in order to have a taste of his old glory days back?
     
  7. Pemmer Harge

    Pemmer Harge Fleet Captain Fleet Captain

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    Location:
    Between the candle and the star
    Ariel. This one's nearly as good as Out of Gas - two excellent episodes in a row. It's a strong, exciting story with lots of really nice touches and some good character stuff. It seems that with these last two episodes the show's growing from a fun, entertaining series into something better.

    Oh, and on the topic of best hours of television, I'll leave aside ST, B5, BSG etc, which are obvious on a forum like this and suggest Three Men and Adena from Homicide: Life on the Street. Simply amazing.
     
  8. Lindley

    Lindley Moderator with a Soul Premium Member

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    :wtf: River insisted he help because she knew the patient would die if he didn't. That's the obvious in-story point.

    My above analysis was more meta, from the writer's perspective.
     
  9. Forbin

    Forbin Admiral Admiral

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    I said out, dammit!
    Definitely an awesome episode. I love the projected brain hovering above river, and how Simon could rotate it by hand.

    The ambulance annoyed me. As a plane buff and avid modeler, all I could see was a half-sized Mi-24 fuselage with a lotta shit glued to it. I wouldn't even kitbash such a thing and expect people to accept it without rolling their eyes.
     
  10. DS9Continuing

    DS9Continuing Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    Manchester
    Not specifically no, but take note that the first time Serenity visits a core world, Book conveniently finds an excuse not to be there. Just another hint about our mysterious shepherd.

    Probably a bit of both, but with the former hiding underneath the latter. Mal may not be a nice guy, but he is a good guy. He'd just rather not be.

    Did we get to the episode yet where it is revealed that young Simon Tam is secretly Zac Efron? I forget which episode that is.
     
  11. Trekker4747

    Trekker4747 Boldly going... Premium Member

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    Location:
    Trekker4747
    In no particular order:

    DS9's "The Visitor."
    TNG's "The Inner Light."
    House's "House's Head" and "Wilson's Heart."
    Firefly's "Out of Gas" and "Serenity" (the pilot episode.)
    TOS's "City on the Edge of Forever."
    Enterprise's "Twilight" (Having Archer being a sparkling vampire and T'Pol a stammering Vulcan woman in lover with him was an interesting take on the characters. ;))

    That's just from the top of my head and I'm sure if I thought about it longer I could come up with many more.

    Actually, no. We "feel better" about this when Zoe tells us the hospital would never miss the medicine and could have itself restocked within very little time. The scene with Simon saving the dying patient (aparently in post-op recovery in a community room?!) was designed to show us how good of a doctor Simon is and the potential life he gave up in order to save his sister.
     
  12. Mal

    Mal Commodore Commodore

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    there is so much good DS9, it's hard to pick just one!
     
  13. saturn5

    saturn5 Fleet Captain Fleet Captain

    Joined:
    Apr 2, 2010
    'In the pale moonlight' is beyond compare for me (and I am not Spock I suspect), it shows a moral ambiguity that you don't usually find in Star Trek

    War Stories

    The good;
    So lovely to see Kaylee and River playing together at the start like excited children with Mal and Inara looking on like a pair of devoted parents. Exciting ambush and final rescue and some nice comedy with Inara and her client and the crew's reaction to her. Also hints that River may be a lot more dangerous than we ever thought she might be and some nice character stuff between her and Simon.

    The bad;
    How exactly does Niska find out where Mal and co are doing the deal? Aside from that not much.

    Best line;
    Wash; "I am a large, semi-muscular man"
    also like;
    Jayne; (aroused by the sight of Inara kissing her female client goodbye); "I'll be in my bunk"
    Zoe; "Jayne grab your weapon!"
    portending of things to come;
    'No power in the verse can stop me' said by River and Kaylee in 2 VERY different ways.

    Packing heat;
    Nikka's thugs use Blazer R93's in their ambush and Uzis, Steyr AUG's and Baretta submachineguns in the station. Wash packs a huge Colt Cobra 44. Magnum in addition to his Mossberg shotgun, Simon a Glock and Kaylee has a Bren 10 pistol, Sonny Crockett's gun from Miami Vice. Anyone tell me what Book's gun is?

    Kinky dinky;
    The henchman is reading some truly ancient porn when the Serenity arrives, did the Alliance ban Playboy or something? Zoe tells Mal to 'Take me sir, take me hard', naughty schoolgirl style prompting Wash to give his wife a hearty spank on the ass as foreplay for their 'bunk time'..

    Notches on the Serenity bedpost; Inara's first female customer. Mal confirms that he and Zoe never had sex.
    Inarra;3+1 possible, Atherton.
    Wash; 1-the missus
    Zoe; 1-the hubby
    Kaylee;1-Bester

    Capt subtext;
    So the whole idea of the River/Simon incest vibe was actually given to people by Alan Tudyk's in his commentary for this ep? Doesn't give a jot of evidence for it though. Inara's first female client, as Kaylee observes "They look so glamorous". Love her 'God!" expression as Jayne leers over them.
    The latent jealousy between Mal, Zoe and Wash comes to a head, noticeably Zoe never promised to obey Wash but does Mal. Of course she picks Wash to save over Mal which must reassure him. The central message seems to be that Zoe loves them both equally but Wash in a sexual romantic way and Zoe as a friend/war buddy.

    How'd they get away with that?
    Mal and Wash horribly (yet somehow quite amusingly) tortured by Niska. Stops being funny when he cuts Mal's ear off!
    .
    Total Serenity crew; 9-Book back. The whole gang don't hesitate to cowboy up and go Saving Private Mal.
    Mal, Zoe, Jayne, Wash, Kaylee, Inarra, Simon, River, Book

    Subverting the Hollywood cliche;
    Amazingly Niska escapes. Mal actually wants the guys to shoot the torturer rather than deal with him himself. Wash does his 'Leave no man behind' schtick whilst cocking about the smallest pistol you've ever seen.

    Whedon cliches;
    Devoted siblings, haunted charismatic leading man. Teenage girls with superpowers. Hookers. Babbling insane girls with truth in their madness. Fake cockneys. Misguided religious zealots. Numbered t-shirts. Girls with botanical names (Willow, Saffron, Jasmine). Absent fathers. Clever use of extensive flashbacks

    Bondage;
    Mal; 1
    River; 1
    Simon; 1
    River; 1
    Jayne; 1

    Knocked out; Mal knocked out/dead but then revived
    Book; 2
    Simon; 2
    Kaylee; 1
    Jayne;2
    Mal; 2
    Wash; 1
    Inara; 1
    Zoe; 1
    River; 1

    Kills; Inara takes no part in the combat and Kaylee never even fires her gun. Hard to tell amongst all the confusion but I'll give Zoe and Jayne 4 kills each and Wash 2. 3 kills for River. Despite both participating in the gunfight neither Book nor Simon kill anyone.
    Mal; 11-
    Zoe; 10-
    Jayne; 11-
    Wash; 2
    River; 3

    Happy high-class hookers in Space;
    Everyone seems to be insatiably curious of whom the Companions are hired by, even Book, they're the futuristic equivalent of Heat magazine. She seems to specialise not so much in the sexual aspect of her job but in making everyone feel special.

    Whedon alumni- Joss likes to reuse the same actors in his series, let's count up their appearances (let me know if I miss any)
    Nathan Fillon-3; Firefly, Caleb in S7 of Buffy and Dr Horrible
    Gina Torres-2; Firefly and Jasmine in S4 of Angel
    Alan Tudyk-2; Firefly and the villainous/heroic(?) Alpha in Dollhouse (haven't seen season 2 so don't spoil it for me)
    Adam Baldwin-2; Firefly and Marcus Hamilton in S5 of Angel
    Summer Glau-3; Firefly, Dollhouse and the prima ballerina in the LEGENDARY S4 Angel ep 'Waiting in the wings'.
    Carlos Jacott-3; The Fed in Firefly, Ken in the 'Anne' ep of Buffy and Richard Straley in 'The Bachelor Party' ep of Angel.
    Andy Umberger;3-the captain of the Dortmunder in Firefly, D'Hoffryn in Buffy, the psychic surgeon in the Angel ep 'I fall to pieces'.
    Mark Shepherd;2-Badger in Firefly and later turns up as one of Ballard's FBI colleagues in Dollhouse. Also a BSG alumni.
    Jeff Rickets;3- one of the blue handed men in Firefly and Weatherby on Buffy/Angel plus the spiderdemon at the end of Angel season 4
    Gregg Henry; 2- he's one of those faces that occur time and again in TV/movies, the Sherrif in The Train Job and he later recurrs in the Dollhouse ep 'Ghost', one of my favourite eps of season 1.
    Christina Hendricks; 2-Saffron in Firefly and a bar maid in the Angel ep 'The Prodigal'. She'll later star in Mad Men with Whedonverse alumni Vincent Kartheiser.
    Ira Steck; 2-The intern here and the vamp Buffy fights in 'Lies my parents told me'.
    Michael Nagy; 3-one of the hospital staff here, the Rat Pack vamp Jay-Don in the Angel ep 'The Shroud of Rahmon' and Alfonse (one of vampWillow's lackeys) in the Buffy ep Dopplegangland.
    Cathy Cohen; 2-the admitting nurse here and the estate agent who hits on cool Xander in the Buffy ep The Replacement.

    Firefly speak;
    Gorram=goddam.
    Weak tea=not good
    Back birth=idiot
    Companion=high class courtesan
    Gengish=competent
    Doh-ma=understand/understood?
    Rutting=bloody (or perhaps 'fraking'?)
    Chin-cha-da=hell
    Purple belly=officious bureaucrat
    Ta-gow=Oh god!
    Won-gwa-pee= to urinate or defecate
    Gosa=excrement
    Tien-sha-duh=rubbish
    Los-soh-ret=crap
    Dien-dyododo-chowen=bastard
    Wah=what the hell?
    Mah song=quickly
    Jin-seen-yung=idiot
    Nu-shu-quong=nice going
    Mai-hong=hello
    Sheinou-niou=no good
    Mei, mei=actually been informed that it means 'little sister'
    Niou-se=lame

    Shot; Jayne get's clipped during the rescue
    Mal; 2-
    Kaylee;1-
    Jayne;3-
    Book;1-

    Crew injured;
    Mal and Wash tortured half to death with Mal's ear cut off. Thankfully Simon reattaches it.

    Reminds me off;
    The desert hill where they get ambushed is the same one Buffy fights the First Slayer on in Restless.

    Questions and observations;
    Niska returns as a recurring villain, I've often thought that Dollhouse and Firefly fall short of Buffy and Angel's success partly because they didn't have the interesting and exciting returning villains those series specialised in. Apples again, I'm beginning to formulate a theory that the entire series is actually about fruit. Alan Tudyk states that he believed Wash flew a couple of missions for the Browncoats during the war then was interned by the Alliance before seeing any action. Jayne and Book are workout buddies. Note that Jayne still takes the time to loot the bodies at the ambush site (and presumably recover the drugs from there and the money later from Niska's space station). Note it's Book who rigs the bomb on the mule.
    So what is River who can effortlessly shoot three gunmen without even looking? Did the Alliance's experiments turn her into some sort of supersoldier and is that why they're so desperate to retrieve her? Or is she some form of X-men style evolving super being and the Alliance's experiments were designed to prevent her becoming dangerous? Or some secret weapon one of the sides developed during the Unification war and are now trying to cover up? Is that what scares Kaylee at the end?
    Zoe cooks for Wash at the end which takes in greater significance if you've watched 'Our Mrs Reynolds'.
    .
    Marks out of 10;
    . 8/10 and again bordering on 9, continuing the high standards of Ariel.
     
  14. Mal

    Mal Commodore Commodore

    Joined:
    Jan 26, 2005


    while these are certainly some of the most quoted lines in firefly, my favorite part of the episode is definitely:
    Niska: Do you know the writings of Shan Yu?
    Mal: Are you starting a book club? What, are you trying to torture me?
    :guffaw: :guffaw: :guffaw: :guffaw:
     
  15. saturn5

    saturn5 Fleet Captain Fleet Captain

    Joined:
    Apr 2, 2010
    Frankly if I was Mal I'd have stalled him for as long as possible, better to talk than to be tortured!

    Trash
     
    [FONT=Arial]The good;
    Real white knuckle stuff with Zoe and Kaylee on the garbage barge, Indy snatching his hat close. Also love a paralysed, terrified Jayne at Simon's mercy calling out 'Anybody there?" only for River to stick her head around the corner of the door, for such a little thing she can be extremely sinister ("When did your little sister become unbelievably scary?"). 2nd appearance for Saffron and when you see her turn up you just know it's going to be a good one, the interplay between her and Mal and the bitchy rivalry between her and Inara is delicious. Really like Monty too, hope we see him again, with beard or without.

    The bad;

    Doesn't anyone notice a bloody great spaceship like Serenity screwing with the garbage?
     
    Best line;
    Saffron; (of Mal) "He's my husband"
    Mal; "Well who the hell in the galaxy ain't!?"
    plus
    Doren; (after Mal has explained they're here to steal his property but that Saffron lied to him) "I appreciate your honesty...not you know, a lot...but...."
     
    Packing heat
    ;
    The whole plot revolves around 'The Lassiter', an antique laser pistol of untold value (check out Jayne's double take when he hears the name). We've seldom seen projectile energy weapons in the Fireflyverse, most people seem to still rely on lead. Noticeably the police on the core worlds seem to use some form of advanced stun guns whilst those on the outer planets stick with bullets. Because they need more firepower out in the wilds or just haven't been issued the new weaponry yet? Inara with a gun, the first time we see her with one. Needless to say it's an elegant, delicate looking affair, maybe a Ruger .22 or something similar.

    Kinky dinky
    ;
    Naked Mal. Give Joss his due, whilst he has plenty of female nudity on his shows he makes sure there's plenty of male eye candy too (Spike, Angel, all the Actives in the Dollhouse showers). He frisks Saf-Brid-Yol commenting he's "never been there before'.
     
    Notches on the Serenity bedpost;

    Inarra;3+1 possible, Atherton.
    Wash; 1-the missus
    Zoe; 1-the hubby
    Kaylee;1-Bester

     
    Capt subtext
    ;
    One thing that was suggested to me in feedback for my review of War Stories is that Inara's customer was able to provide sophisticated medical equipment at the drop of a hat which Simon uses to sew Mal's ear back on. At the end the crew wonder out loud how she's able to do that so easily but if we do believe that Inara is sick, maybe this was all intended for her as part of her treatment?
    Inara accuses Mal of avoiding the core planets not through his hatred for the Alliance or wish to avoid law enforcement but because he's jealous of her clients and wants to stop her working. Mal doesn't mind be called a thief, he just objects to being a 'petty' thief? Or does Inara just mean he's petty about her and a thief? Perhaps Inara resents Saffron so much because she recognises her as a fallen version of herself?


    Total Serenity crew; 9-Inara refers to 'our cut' and actually participates in the plan which is unusual for her (or at least she's the backup for when it inevitably all goes wrong). Simon and River inform Jayne they won't kill him for his betrayal because they consider him part of their crew.
    Mal, Zoe, Jayne, Wash, Kaylee, Inarra, Simon, River, Book



    Whedon cliches;
    Devoted siblings, haunted charismatic leading man. Teenage girls with superpowers. Hookers. Babbling insane girls with truth in their madness. Fake cockneys. Misguided religious zealots. Numbered t-shirts. Girls with botanical names (Willow, Saffron, Jasmine). Absent fathers. Clever use of extensive flashbacks. Women in boxes.

    Bondage
    ;
    Mal; 1
    River; 1
    Simon; 1
    River; 1
    Jayne; 1
     
    Knocked out
    ; Jayne by an electric shock
    Book; 2
    Simon; 2
    Kaylee; 1
    Jayne;3
    Mal; 2
    Wash; 1
    Inara; 1
    Zoe; 1
    River; 1

    Women good/men bad
    ;
    Even by his standards Jayne is amazingly crude to Simon and River, threatening to show then his 'man parts' and proclaiming that 'womenfolk ain't to be trusted'. Saffron leaving Mal naked in the desert in undoubteldy funny although would it have been acceptable to us if Mal had done the same to her?
     
    Kills
    ;
    Mal; 11-
    Zoe; 10-
    Jayne; 11-
    Wash; 2
    River; 3
     
    Happy high-class hookers in Space
    ;
    Inara refers to her 'house mistress', presumably some form of high-ranking companion supervisor/tutor. She also refers to the Geisha dolls Mal has been smuggling, a similar profession to her own. Is she Mal's Geisha Doll? Mal calls Saffron a 'Dirty, dirty whore' as an insult, once again showing how his mind works. Saffron asks Doren if he regards her as his 'Princess in the tower', maybe suggesting she was a companion who made the mistake of becoming a kept woman as a couple of Inara's past clients have wanted of her.

     
    Whedon alumni- Joss likes to reuse the same actors in his series, let's count up their appearances (let me know if I miss any)
    Nathan Fillon-3; Firefly, Caleb in S7 of Buffy and Dr Horrible
    Gina Torres-2; Firefly and Jasmine in S4 of Angel
    Alan Tudyk-2; Firefly and the villainous/heroic(?) Alpha in Dollhouse (haven't seen season 2 so don't spoil it for me)
    Adam Baldwin-2; Firefly and Marcus Hamilton in S5 of Angel
    Summer Glau-3; Firefly, Dollhouse and the prima ballerina in the LEGENDARY S4 Angel ep 'Waiting in the wings'.
    Carlos Jacott-3; The Fed in Firefly, Ken in the 'Anne' ep of Buffy and Richard Straley in 'The Bachelor Party' ep of Angel.
    Andy Umberger;3-the captain of the Dortmunder in Firefly, D'Hoffryn in Buffy, the psychic surgeon in the Angel ep 'I fall to pieces'.
    Mark Shepherd;2-Badger in Firefly and later turns up as one of Ballard's FBI colleagues in Dollhouse. Also a BSG alumni.
    Jeff Rickets;3- one of the blue handed men in Firefly and Weatherby on Buffy/Angel plus the spiderdemon at the end of Angel season 4
    Gregg Henry; 2- he's one of those faces that occur time and again in TV/movies, the Sherrif in The Train Job and he later recurrs in the Dollhouse ep 'Ghost', one of my favourite eps of season 1.
    Christina Hendricks; 2-Saffron in Firefly and a bar maid in the Angel ep 'The Prodigal'. She'll later star in Mad Men with Whedonverse alumni Vincent Kartheiser.
    Ira Steck; 2-The intern here and the vamp Buffy fights in 'Lies my parents told me'.
    Michael Nagy; 3-one of the hospital staff here, the Rat Pack vamp Jay-Don in the Angel ep 'The Shroud of Rahmon' and Alfonse (one of vampWillow's lackeys) in the Buffy ep Dopplegangland.
    Cathy Cohen; 2-the admitting nurse here and the estate agent who hits on cool Xander in the Buffy ep The Replacement.
     
    Alliance good or bad?;

    Mal actually shows real sympathy for Duren even though Saffron claims he's an Alliance war criminal, pronouncing him the one guy 'who don't have it coming'. Maybe Mal is starting to put the war behind him? (Or did his own share of looting which is how he afforded the Serenity?)
     
     
    Firefly speak;
    Gorram=goddam.
    Weak tea=not good
    Back birth=idiot
    Companion=high class courtesan
    Gengish=competent
    Doh-ma=understand/understood?
    Rutting=bloody (or perhaps 'fraking'?)
    Chin-cha-da=hell
    Purple belly=officious bureaucrat
    Ta-gow=Oh god!
    Won-gwa-pee= to urinate or defecate
    Gosa=excrement
    Tien-sha-duh=rubbish
    Los-soh-ret=crap
    Dien-dyododo-chowen=bastard
    Wah=what the hell?
    Mah song=quickly
    Jin-seen-yung=idiot
    Nu-shu-quong=nice going
    Mai-hong=hello
    Sheinou-niou=no good
    Mei, mei=little sister
    Niou-se=lame
    Hey-shu-peegou=dumbass
    Moon brain=inbred?
    Jus-sa-gran=dupes/suckers
    Swa-shi=petty, small time

    Shot;

    Mal; 2-
    Kaylee;1-
    Jayne;3-
    Book;1-
     
    Crew injured;

    Mal gets a bloody nose from Saf-Brid-Yol.
     
    Reminds me off;
    Inara's pistol is reminiscent of Princess Leia's in Star Wars. The police vehicles remind me of US Navy Viking ASW planes. The phonebox amongst Doren's collection may refer to Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure. Floating balloons on tethers as we saw in The Initiative and may refer to The Prisoner. One of the fences Mal suggests is called Ellison, again a famous sci-fi author.
     
    Questions and observations;
    All the mechanics on the Serenity seem to (literally) revolve around the one moving part, it's like the engine on the Beatles' Yellow Submarine or something. So what did happen to Heinrich the security guy? Saffron refers to a fence she has standing by on Prersephone to buy the Lassiter, does she mean Badger? Simon is noticeably dressing down now, no longer so dandy as he used to be (like Wes on Angel). Does River just sense Jayne's betrayal on Ariel or can she actually read his mind? Check out Kaylee's flowery cup, you just instinctively know it's hers. It seems to be you can now fix spinal damage with a simple injection.
    So, River tells Jayne that she can kill him with her mind? Does she mean by telling what she knows? Because she's so much smarter than him? Or does she mean literally, implying once again the supersoldier/Dark Phoenix from the X-men idea?
    .
    Marks out of 10;
    [/FONT]8 out of 10, an awful lot of fun to be had, as Mal says at the end, it's a good day. For me Firefly is very much hitting it's stride at this point.
     
    Last edited: Aug 22, 2010
  16. Trekker4747

    Trekker4747 Boldly going... Premium Member

    Joined:
    Jul 16, 2001
    Location:
    Trekker4747
    Oh my. I'm having a stroke...
     
  17. saturn5

    saturn5 Fleet Captain Fleet Captain

    Joined:
    Apr 2, 2010
    You keep your sex life to yourself!;)

    Ok, changed it all to Arial 12 font, pared out the topic headings and placed more space between them and took the L out of Whedon, what more do you want?:confused:
     
  18. ljrashkin

    ljrashkin Fleet Captain Fleet Captain

    Joined:
    Apr 24, 2003
    To stop trying to change the font. It doesn't work on this board. Not to Arial, not to Times New Roman, not to Helvetica, not to anything. The default font is your ONLY option. Trying to change it doesn't work and just leaves the [Font=] at the top of your post that makes everyone else yell at you.
     
  19. Forbin

    Forbin Admiral Admiral

    Joined:
    Mar 15, 2001
    Location:
    I said out, dammit!
    Also, again, "reminds me off" - ?

    There was a short series of viral web videos (available on the DVDs) that tells you what River meant by "I can kill you with my mind."
     
  20. Pemmer Harge

    Pemmer Harge Fleet Captain Fleet Captain

    Joined:
    Jun 19, 2009
    Location:
    Between the candle and the star
    War Stories and Trash - more good episodes. The show feels like it's hit its stride now. Shame there are only three more episodes.