When the show was aired, they started with this episode. When Croll got kicked into the engine, I busted up laughing and knew this was the show for me.
interesting detail: in the movie Serenity, which "ends" the series, when Mal takes off his shirt, the scar from the knife is clearly visible. small details, but important!
This episode was written in only a weekend. The FOX execs waited until the very last minute on a Friday to reject the original pilot. That meant a new episode had to be turned in on the following Monday morning or Firefly would have been let go for breach of contract Joss Whedon had a Firefly contract for 5 seasons (22-24 episodes per season) with FOX. After the contract but before the airing, those FOX execs that wanted Firefly were replaced with new execs. The new execs wanted to make their mark with their own shows by getting rid of the old exec shows. They couldn't break the contract on their end so they pulled every dirty trick in the book to get Firefly cancelled instead.
Inara is a licensed Companion, you could sort of compare it to being a Geisha. She is not simply a bedmate, she has trained to be skilled at conversation, dance, basically most social arts. This world is a bit of a melting pot, when humans left Earth cultures mixed, hence the cast swearing in Chinese, and the development of the Companion's Guild. In the Firefly reality she is culturally the most respectable and dignified member of the crew... even ranking above Shepard Book. At least within the scope of the Alliance run systems... I imagine some of the less developed and integrated planets might have more internal and isolated opinions.
YEah. Didn't see that one coming. Seeing how this was the first episode that aired, that ending took me by surprise and made me want to tune in for more. Nesska is an excellent villain. Very cold and calculating.
Enjoyed the reaction. I love this episode. It shows different levels of Mal. This episode was originally aired first because the TV executives didn't like the pilot.
"It shows different levels of Mal." Exactly. Right at the end, for example -- how he talks with the sheriff and then how he deals with Crow -- that's a very quick summary of who he is.
@@dudermcdudeface3674 No, they watched the completed pilot on a Friday, then told Joss that they would not be airing the pilot and asked him to make a lot of changes (including rewriting the marriage of Wash and Zoe), and requiring a new pilot ready for table read on Monday morning at standard episode length instead of the longer pilot length. Joss was running Buffy, Vampire Slayer and Angel while getting Firefly started, and had to brainstorm the script and getting the story of the second episode with his head writer over the short weekend. The actual pilot was not seen until the series was cancelled and used to fulfill network first run commitments. This episode had to go over the same ground giving first impressions in a shorter time frame, acting as the pilot and pushing into more worldbuilding meant to last up to seven seasons of 22 episodes/season. We got 14 episodes, in jumbled order and haphazard scheduling, and the last 3 episodes were never shown on Fox.
To Mia Maki, I fell right in love with the actress that played "Zoe" back when this first aired on network TV. So, when she got to star in her own science fiction TV series which aired in the year 2000 called "Cleopatra 2525", I was all on it (smile...smile).
She had been on Cleopatra 2525 before she did Firefly. It was part of the Action Pack back in the days of the Legendary Journeys of Hercules, Xena Warrior Princess, and Jack Of All Trades.
@@CaptainFrost32 I just checked and according to IMDb you are correct. Guess now it is over 20-years ago but for some reason, I recall rushing home to watch "Firefly" each week on CBS prior to watching on Saturday afternoon's 30-minutes of "Jack of All Trades" and 30-minutes of "Cleopatra 2525". But, the good thing is that, I own both TV series on DVD and now get to watch them anytime (smile...smile). Question, what did you think of "Cleopatra 2525"?
So, funny story about this episode. When Fox ran the series, they decided that this episode was far more action oriented to get the attention of the audience. So, instead of the pilot episode which set up the lore and the world, they aired this episode first then the pilot the week after. Talk about tonal whiplash.
It wasn't just that Fox had 2 to choose from. They filmed the pilot, Fox made a bunch of demands that wouldn't have worked with the existing script, so the writers had to write a new script over a weekend and get it produced quickly.
Joss Whedon, when he started this series, had just finished watching a documentary about the American Civil War and was fascinated by the idea of the confederate veterans reintegrating into American society after the war. Therefore there is a parallel between the independents and the confederates (of course without the racial issues associated with the American war).
In one commentary he mentioned the "what if" the Confederate won the war and slavery never ended. That's the future we see now. The Confederate is the Alliance. USA of Earth-that-was & China as the last 2super powers got together and left Earth. But then the military took control during the time it took to traverse space to the new solar system which took generations. That combined military force became The Alliance. The independence wanted to breakup the military control. Of course we never got to get into The Blue Sun Group which I think was possibly the future of The CIA & Chinese secret police.
As I'm sure you've heard by now, this episode was aired first in the original broadcast because Fox didn't like the pilot, leading to this episode being written over a single weekend. The brilliant thing though is that they managed to reintroduce all of the characters, as well as set up the universe, in subtle ways for an audience that hadn't seen the pilot. E.g. The opening scene highlights the fusion of Eastern and Western influences in this society. It also reestablishes the backstory with the Alliance and the Independents, while showing that Mal and co. are criminals and giving us a good, clear shot of Serenity. Characters are referred to as husband, wife, doctor, etc. River's flashbacks remind us of her backstory, etc. It's brilliant writing because it's informative, but still subtle enough that if you have seen the pilot, it doesn't feel like they're repeating themselves.
You should watch "The River Tam Chronicles" early. It is not going to be a spoiler, more of a harbinger of things yet to come. And a good explanation of her "offness" and to the nature of the Alliance. Supporters of this show are called Browncoats.
It's a very good idea to watch them before the movie. In fact, they were released as promotional material for the movie. I don't think it's a good idea to watch them before or during the show, though, since the River character keeps getting revealed little by little throughout the show, up to and including the "last" episode.
4:00 Mal is the morpheme for bad in latin. A morpheme is a prefix, root, or suffix. For an example used as a root you get malus which something bad, bad as a noun. Malignant, Malicious, Malificient, Malnutrition are examples of mal used as a as a prefix. Mal cant really be used as a suffix because there are relatively few suffixes in altin and the denote inflections for an example Malus has te suffix -us which means it's a male noun.
I'm already into it with you on this unbelievable journey with the crew of Serenity, but as soon as you said Sonic Screwdriver, I was all in. DW is my life going on 12 years now.
Not everyone gets the "two by two, hands of blue" on the first run through of this episode. Jayne... well... Jayne is always the last person anyone comes to trust... IF they come to trust him.
Jayne can always be trusted to do what’s best for Jayne. And because of the people that he’s chosen to surround himself with (Mal and the rest of the crew from Serenity) what’s best for Jayne is (usually) being a reliable member of the crew.
my first favorite series. then Falcon And The Winter Soldier. then WandaVision. please see all of the series. and the the movie Serenity (2005). this is another series the establishment could not stand. too many truths. too much respect for the viewers.
"The Train Job": The second pilot with "more action," a bar room brawl, a job from fearsome criminal boss Adelai Niska, aerial heist goes sideways, Mal and Zoe are "married," the goods are needed Meds for Paradiso, caught Jayne's chain of command is rusty, Inara retrieves her "errant servants," Niska's men arrive, Meds returned, Mal tries to deal with Niska's #2 who says: "Bite me," #3 takes the deal toot suite.
If I may make a suggestion, after you finish watching all the Fireflies, watch the movie "Serenity". Its based on the "Firefly" season 1 which was the last season.
Unfortunately you watched this so long ago there’s not much point in commenting. It’s a pity, we would have liked more meaningful dialogue with you whilst it was playing out for you.
In my opinion, the Tam parents weren't really their parents. They were caretakers for potential recruits into the program that eventually ensnared River. Simon was a wash-out, didn't meet the criteria so they let him become a doctor, providing long-term support and stability for the 'parents'. Likely there was some genetic tampering with both of them, it had just progressed further by the time they got to River.
The prefix “mal-“ is derived from the Latin ‘malus/mala/male’ and is in the etymology of many English words as well: malcontent, malnourished, malevolent, malfunction, malformed, etc. etc. Of course here it’s simply a nickname for ’Malcolm’ but it shows her mind making connections, not just random madness.
She should also know, then.. that Mal is short for Malcolm, which is a Scottish name (Mael Colium) which means 'follower of St. Columba'. Ironically, Mal would not enjoy knowing that. =D
Sorry hun aspiring is good but Im afraid you will never be as much of a badass as Zoe (much like I know with certainty I will never be as awesome as Mal myself much as I wish it :P) Thats not to say you (or I) are not awesome in our own right... but I mean... some bars are just set too high eh? :P
When the show was aired, they started with this episode. When Croll got kicked into the engine, I busted up laughing and knew this was the show for me.
Crow, not Croll. He literally had a tattoo of a crow on his face. :) But yeah, Nishka's pronunciation makes it hard to make out.
Nathan Fillion put LOTS of Firefly references in CASTLE. Definitely worth watching that series as well.
I love Castle I've watched it like 3 times now. It's so good.
interesting detail: in the movie Serenity, which "ends" the series, when Mal takes off his shirt, the scar from the knife is clearly visible. small details, but important!
I'm liking Firefly Fridays already! :D
Yay! Glad to hear it!!
This episode was written in only a weekend. The FOX execs waited until the very last minute on a Friday to reject the original pilot. That meant a new episode had to be turned in on the following Monday morning or Firefly would have been let go for breach of contract
Joss Whedon had a Firefly contract for 5 seasons (22-24 episodes per season) with FOX. After the contract but before the airing, those FOX execs that wanted Firefly were replaced with new execs. The new execs wanted to make their mark with their own shows by getting rid of the old exec shows. They couldn't break the contract on their end so they pulled every dirty trick in the book to get Firefly cancelled instead.
Inara is a licensed Companion, you could sort of compare it to being a Geisha. She is not simply a bedmate, she has trained to be skilled at conversation, dance, basically most social arts. This world is a bit of a melting pot, when humans left Earth cultures mixed, hence the cast swearing in Chinese, and the development of the Companion's Guild. In the Firefly reality she is culturally the most respectable and dignified member of the crew... even ranking above Shepard Book. At least within the scope of the Alliance run systems... I imagine some of the less developed and integrated planets might have more internal and isolated opinions.
YEah. Didn't see that one coming. Seeing how this was the first episode that aired, that ending took me by surprise and made me want to tune in for more. Nesska is an excellent villain. Very cold and calculating.
Enjoyed the reaction. I love this episode. It shows different levels of Mal.
This episode was originally aired first because the TV executives didn't like the pilot.
"It shows different levels of Mal." Exactly. Right at the end, for example -- how he talks with the sheriff and then how he deals with Crow -- that's a very quick summary of who he is.
More than likely the execs didn't even watch the pilot. Probably just read a one-paragraph summary and didn't see the required number of buzzwords.
@@dudermcdudeface3674 No, they watched the completed pilot on a Friday, then told Joss that they would not be airing the pilot and asked him to make a lot of changes (including rewriting the marriage of Wash and Zoe), and requiring a new pilot ready for table read on Monday morning at standard episode length instead of the longer pilot length.
Joss was running Buffy, Vampire Slayer and Angel while getting Firefly started, and had to brainstorm the script and getting the story of the second episode with his head writer over the short weekend.
The actual pilot was not seen until the series was cancelled and used to fulfill network first run commitments.
This episode had to go over the same ground giving first impressions in a shorter time frame, acting as the pilot and pushing into more worldbuilding meant to last up to seven seasons of 22 episodes/season.
We got 14 episodes, in jumbled order and haphazard scheduling, and the last 3 episodes were never shown on Fox.
To Mia Maki, I fell right in love with the actress that played "Zoe" back when this first aired on network TV. So, when she got to star in her own science fiction TV series which aired in the year 2000 called "Cleopatra 2525", I was all on it (smile...smile).
She had been on Cleopatra 2525 before she did Firefly. It was part of the Action Pack back in the days of the Legendary Journeys of Hercules, Xena Warrior Princess, and Jack Of All Trades.
@@CaptainFrost32 I just checked and according to IMDb you are correct. Guess now it is over 20-years ago but for some reason, I recall rushing home to watch "Firefly" each week on CBS prior to watching on Saturday afternoon's 30-minutes of "Jack of All Trades" and 30-minutes of "Cleopatra 2525". But, the good thing is that, I own both TV series on DVD and now get to watch them anytime (smile...smile). Question, what did you think of "Cleopatra 2525"?
So, funny story about this episode. When Fox ran the series, they decided that this episode was far more action oriented to get the attention of the audience. So, instead of the pilot episode which set up the lore and the world, they aired this episode first then the pilot the week after. Talk about tonal whiplash.
Yeah, they didn’t set them up for success at all
It wasn't just that Fox had 2 to choose from. They filmed the pilot, Fox made a bunch of demands that wouldn't have worked with the existing script, so the writers had to write a new script over a weekend and get it produced quickly.
actually the pilot episode was the last one aired of the season.
Joss Whedon, when he started this series, had just finished watching a documentary about the American Civil War and was fascinated by the idea of the confederate veterans reintegrating into American society after the war. Therefore there is a parallel between the independents and the confederates (of course without the racial issues associated with the American war).
In one commentary he mentioned the "what if" the Confederate won the war and slavery never ended. That's the future we see now. The Confederate is the Alliance. USA of Earth-that-was & China as the last 2super powers got together and left Earth. But then the military took control during the time it took to traverse space to the new solar system which took generations. That combined military force became The Alliance. The independence wanted to breakup the military control. Of course we never got to get into The Blue Sun Group which I think was possibly the future of The CIA & Chinese secret police.
Mal is a paradox. He doesn't like being questioned, but underneath he enjoys being misunderstood.
Fun factoid - The soldier's uniforms were leftovers from a little-known film called Starship Troupers.
And they were also used in one of the Power Rangers series.
Oh wow, lol!
Keep up the good reactions. As the episodes get better and better you will fall in love with this program.
Mal isn't bad. He just aims to misbehave.
And hey, Delilah was a good spouse, just a bad person.
True two things can be right 😂
Delilah was a good spouse? I think you need to reread that story.
@@hkpew
I feel like you're thinking of a different Delilah.
@@hkpew She brought about the ruin of Samson... so...
Gina Torres was also memorable in "Alias," as an adversary to Jennifer Garner's Sidney Bristow character.
Mal and Inara both like each other, but are too proud to admit anything of the sort.
Spoilers for Nia and others who don't know....
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Oh man, Heart of Gold is gonna hurt Nia methinks.
@@jordanpeterson5140 wow, you need to post spoilers that bad? What's the motivation?
Mal don't dance with threats lol
As promised, you reacted to the second one so I have subscribed!
Third one is up too!
@@NiaMakiReacts Yup, saw it and watched. :)
awesome reaction, thanks for that
Thanks for watching!!
A week between episodes hurts 😭 lol. Jk, awesome reaction!
Let's just say that Inara and Mal have a love-hate relationship.
Fun one, Nia! I'm catching up! 😄
If you ever saw the movie Starship Troopers you would have recognized the Alliance soldier's armor. It was recycled out of that movie's prop closet.
They rented the armor from the same costuming company. The armor was re-used in several other shows and movies.
still say 2 by 2 hands of blue whenever I see peeps wearing those blue plastic gloves 😃
😂 the enemy! I knew I was afraid of drs and dentists for a reason
@@NiaMakiReacts any crime drama where forensic investistors work the crime scene...
fun fact: Gina Torres the actress who plays Zoey is Lawrence Fisburnes wife
currently ex-wife.
@@CaptainFrost32 hadn't heard that
The ending is a classic!
We can all aspire to be as strong as Zoey, or Gina Torres.
As I'm sure you've heard by now, this episode was aired first in the original broadcast because Fox didn't like the pilot, leading to this episode being written over a single weekend.
The brilliant thing though is that they managed to reintroduce all of the characters, as well as set up the universe, in subtle ways for an audience that hadn't seen the pilot. E.g. The opening scene highlights the fusion of Eastern and Western influences in this society. It also reestablishes the backstory with the Alliance and the Independents, while showing that Mal and co. are criminals and giving us a good, clear shot of Serenity. Characters are referred to as husband, wife, doctor, etc. River's flashbacks remind us of her backstory, etc. It's brilliant writing because it's informative, but still subtle enough that if you have seen the pilot, it doesn't feel like they're repeating themselves.
You should watch "The River Tam Chronicles" early. It is not going to be a spoiler, more of a harbinger of things yet to come. And a good explanation of her "offness" and to the nature of the Alliance.
Supporters of this show are called Browncoats.
It's a very good idea to watch them before the movie.
In fact, they were released as promotional material for the movie.
I don't think it's a good idea to watch them before or during the show, though, since the River character keeps getting revealed little by little throughout the show, up to and including the "last" episode.
R Tam Sessions are played between Episode 14 and the movie.
(Who let the Fox exec into the comment section?)
4:00 Mal is the morpheme for bad in latin. A morpheme is a prefix, root, or suffix. For an example used as a root you get malus which something bad, bad as a noun. Malignant, Malicious, Malificient, Malnutrition are examples of mal used as a as a prefix. Mal cant really be used as a suffix because there are relatively few suffixes in altin and the denote inflections for an example Malus has te suffix -us which means it's a male noun.
I'm already into it with you on this unbelievable journey with the crew of Serenity, but as soon as you said Sonic Screwdriver, I was all in. DW is my life going on 12 years now.
Omg I love DW!!!! I missed it since we got a female doctor but I’ve just been so busy! I really wanna catch up
@@NiaMakiReacts I'd love it if you react to the 13th Doctor, since you haven't seen her yet.
Nice to see you Nia
Not everyone gets the "two by two, hands of blue" on the first run through of this episode.
Jayne... well... Jayne is always the last person anyone comes to trust... IF they come to trust him.
Jayne can always be trusted to do what’s best for Jayne. And because of the people that he’s chosen to surround himself with (Mal and the rest of the crew from Serenity) what’s best for Jayne is (usually) being a reliable member of the crew.
my first favorite series. then Falcon And The Winter Soldier. then WandaVision. please see all of the series. and the the movie Serenity (2005). this is another series the establishment could not stand. too many truths. too much respect for the viewers.
The Code of the West.
😍😍😍
"The Train Job": The second pilot with "more action," a bar room brawl, a job from fearsome criminal boss Adelai Niska, aerial heist goes sideways, Mal and Zoe are "married," the goods are needed Meds for Paradiso, caught Jayne's chain of command is rusty, Inara retrieves her "errant servants," Niska's men arrive, Meds returned, Mal tries to deal with Niska's #2 who says: "Bite me," #3 takes the deal toot suite.
Niska is a great villain
Super scary one!
If I may make a suggestion, after you finish watching all the Fireflies, watch the movie "Serenity". Its based on the "Firefly" season 1 which was the last season.
Hey there, all the fireflies are already up in the channel as well as the movie :)
You'll see those two guys with blue hands again, as well as Niska. The episode with Niska is particularly upsetting to some with weak constitutions.
in a short while you can buy a brown coat. :)
Unfortunately you watched this so long ago there’s not much point in commenting. It’s a pity, we would have liked more meaningful dialogue with you whilst it was playing out for you.
In my opinion, the Tam parents weren't really their parents. They were caretakers for potential recruits into the program that eventually ensnared River. Simon was a wash-out, didn't meet the criteria so they let him become a doctor, providing long-term support and stability for the 'parents'. Likely there was some genetic tampering with both of them, it had just progressed further by the time they got to River.
That doesn't really fit the timeline, though.
Of course, we can't really discuss that here.. spoilers and all.
"Mal means bad," is really telling. Latin is a dead language.
It just shows that River knows about ancient stuff.
It's also a bit ambiguous, as "bad" can mean either "being a bad person" or "feeling bad about something"
Yeah, but it also means bad in many Latin derived languages such as Spanish. It isn't really obscure knowledge.
The prefix “mal-“ is derived from the Latin ‘malus/mala/male’ and is in the etymology of many English words as well: malcontent, malnourished, malevolent, malfunction, malformed, etc. etc. Of course here it’s simply a nickname for ’Malcolm’ but it shows her mind making connections, not just random madness.
She should also know, then.. that Mal is short for Malcolm, which is a Scottish name (Mael Colium) which means 'follower of St. Columba'. Ironically, Mal would not enjoy knowing that. =D
You don't have to be an army vet and bar brawler to be a strong black woman.
Why can't Mal be a good man and also not want a woman he cares about to be a "sex worker" (changing the name of something doesn't change reality)
Sorry hun aspiring is good but Im afraid you will never be as much of a badass as Zoe (much like I know with certainty I will never be as awesome as Mal myself much as I wish it :P) Thats not to say you (or I) are not awesome in our own right... but I mean... some bars are just set too high eh? :P
Thanks!
Thank YOU!!