When i told a friend to watch it, i said "The only thing you will regret is, that it only has 14 episodes" (+ the movie), and after he has finished the show, he confirmed that and that he was really sad, that it was over. And this is the usual reaction (and was mine too😢).
I wonder if it's such a good idea to lag behind that much when it comes to the RUclips edits? It feels a bit pointless for me as a viewer to comment on things when you're actually almost done with the series.
Reminds me when i watched firefly, thinking it could de just a random scifi. But oh my, binged all episodes + movie + extra's within one week. From then the many reactions, Sofie reacting is gonna be ... interesting.
Your assessment of Kaylee as “a bowl of sunshine” was apt, I loved that. I also appreciated that you picked up on a few things that other people often miss. Mal’s loss of faith, how the ship was named, especially.
Love the fact you included your initial reaction to the theme song. It is mellow but heartwarming. Before the end of the series, you’ll be singing along.
I love the theme song so much now. But I had to get used to it. The first few times I heard it I was not a fan at all. Now every time I hear it I get a warm and fuzzy feeling of home.
Welcome to the Browncoats! Gina Torres was actually Jasmine because of her connection to _Firefly,_ so its funny to see people say, "Jasmine," when seeing Zoe. Interesting that she said the episode's/"show" is going too fast when one of the reasons the higher ups made the writers rewrite the pilot and not air this episode (until the series was cancelled) was because they said it was slow-moving.
YAY! I didn't realize you had not seen "Firefly"! You are very perceptive! I enjoyed watching you react to a number of details even I didn't see when I first watched this. I think you will love this show and I look forward to watching more reactions! Welcome to the Browncoats!
This is a great show, with episodes that have different styles (comedy, horror, heists etc). The cast is outstanding, and as you can tell already, great chemistry - that's something that you just can't fake, and this cast had it in buckets. You'll have been told this dozens of times already, but also watch the movie, where some of your questions will finally get answered.
In my opinion "Serenity" is the perfect pilot a tv-show could create. It sets up the world perfectly, introduces the characters perfectly, has action, tension, humor, emotions, everything you could ask for. The casting in this show is also amazing. Everybody has chemistry with each other. Already after the first few minutes I am totally convinced of the friendship and comradery of the crew. It feels like they have been living on this ship together for years and not just met to shoot the first episode of their show. I also love the design of Serenity and how you get to know her so well that in every scene you know exactly where it takes place inside the ship.
This show hit the perfect blend of great direction, a cast with amazing chemistry, and great writing. Shows like this is very rare. Being invested already, you too will be so pissed this got cancelled. Just hold on. There are some great episodes ahead.
*YES!* Last time I saw you, you were Seeing Red, now you're seeing brown. Sofie, you have no idea how happy this makes me. Can't wait for you to find out why this is the best show in the 'Verse. Welcome, Browncoat! 😁😁😁
It just makes my day to see a new reaction to Firefly and yours was delightful. You’re very observant and I love that you appreciate the humor. I can tell you’re going to join the ranks of a true Browncoat soon. Welcome!
Welcome to one of the greatest universes ever created. Love how quickly you picked up on things, especially the Chinese, the name of Serenity, how Mal lost his faith, and how sweet Kayleigh is. It's good that you are doing it in the chronological order, because they majorly screwed up by the release order, and even more of screw up by cancelling it after only one season. Looking forward to all the other reactions.
To pick a nit, the opening scene was the Battle of Serenity Valley, and the final battle of the war. But yes, that's where Mal got the name for his ship.
I was impressed as well--you picked up more things in the pilot that most reviewers pick up in the entire series. Hopefully that keeps up because there's a lot more "little things" that are pretty crucial to truly understanding the characters!
Kaylee had enjoyed the strawberry because fresh food is a rarity for spacecraft and limited to harvest in frontier colonies and marketed to core civilizations. Jewel Staite, on the other hand, does not like strawberries, meaning it shows her talent as an actress to make such enjoyment. She had to let the fans know as they started bringing strawberry goods for her at conventions.
One of the most instinctive reactions I have seen. You picked up so quickly on the core of Firefly as well as the subtler nuances. Exceptional and deserving of a Sub from me!
I knew you would pick up on most of the little details, Sofie. Like Mal being a man of faith and loosing it after loosing the battle of Serenity Valley. And props to you for making the connection between the place and the name of the ship.
Nathan Fillion is just great in this... You probably already got this as a suggestion, and I'm well aware that it's a huge show and a huge commitment given the amount of seasons; but the show "Castle" with him and Stana Katic is just awesome if you haven't watched it... A procedural crime/drama/comedy... You've probably heard of it since is one of the BIG shows of the 2000s
@@Tampahop That show gets my vote as well... There are a few of the 2000s shows that would be cool to watch reactions for; but I understand that they are quite the adventure to go on given that they have 6, 7, 8 seasons with 20+ episodes each... And if she goes with Once Upon a Time, which is one of these great ones, she is going to be with it for a while
Sofie, I think you have embarked on a journey from which there is no return. This show will leave you wanting more. The crew portrayals and dialogue are unique, and easy to love! I am truly looking forward to your journey through this 'verse!
I subscribed as soon as I saw how fast you picked up on many of the show’s plot points and character aspects. Now, looking forward to your journey through this fantastic series !
Firefly is an amazing series. I first watched it a few years after it was over. Even knowing that it only has one season, I was so sad because I knew there would not be enough. But what we do have is great. I hope you enjoyed it.
So about the bits of Mandarin sprinkled in: The official reason: The big contributors to space colonization spoke English and Mandarin, thus those are primary languages The unofficial reason: You can curse in Mandarin and the censors won't stop it. So most of the time you here Mandarin, they're cursing.
You have taken the first step along a short but emotionally charged journey, this show was a one of a kind , with great writing and not an ounce of fat among the characters or stories. Looking forward to enjoying your reactions.
Geisha are not prostitutes. But a companion is like a geisha + high-end call girl with upper-class status. Reavers aren't pirates. The execs supposedly felt this pilot episode didn't have enough action and was too long being a double episode so the next episode was aired as the first episode after some rewriting. The truth is the executive that green lighted this series was promoted and the replacement wanted to get rid of it for a much less expensive reality TV series and so began sabotaging it. First were the misleading TV commercials, then not showing the this episode until after the TV series was canceled after the 1st half of what would have been a 22 or 24 episode season, changing the day being aired, and also showing a few other episodes out of order. Three episodes weren't aired until summer without any announcement to the fans resulting in most never seeing them until the DVD release. The DVDs contain extremely good commentary for each episode which I found well worth listening to the second time around. The Buffy & Angel TV series DVDs also contain excellent commentary. One of the things you find out is that even if written by someone other than Joss Whedon he does go over every episode and some of the most memorable lines are from Joss.
YAY!! So happy you are checking this out and enjoying it so far- This Pilot is my #1 favorite pilot of all time, followed by the Pilot of LOST and the Pilot of Alias. Interesting, I think they are all very fast paced with a lot of info.
And you're entirely right to be obsessed - it's a great show, with good characters and great actors. And, of course - not only is it a great series - but it didn't run long enough to jump the shark and get bad . Glad you enjoyed it.
This is the first video of yours I've seen. I'm glad you liked the show, but now I have to watch more of your reactions. 😀 Looking forward to it. You'll be falling in love with all the characters.
Yes, Inara is like a Geisha. Another parallel would be the French Courtesans of the 18th century. They were valued for the culture and their wit as much as their looks. This is a very class conscious world, and Companions have high status. Here's a clip from the movie (no spoilers). It provides some useful background. ruclips.net/video/g-alzyvTtVE/видео.htmlsi=4oWxfUZ1sUkLFItt Whedon was influenced partly by the end of the American Civil War; many southerners called the conflict the Second War of Independence, or the War of Northern Aggression. (no arguments, please; I'm just quoting them) Basically Mal is trying to stay as far from the Alliance as possible, which means the edges of the system. Most of those moons & planets have been incompletely terraformed, resulting in a desolate landscape. Hence the similarity to the American West. Mal & Zoe are the only ones with military training. Jayne was either too young for the war, or he sat it out. As you might have guessed, he's fairly mercenary. Wash, the pilot, is not military at all. Damn fine pilot, though.
All of us were laughing along with the crew at the big fake out. Yes, it's messed up. Yes, it's psychotic. But it's just one of the beats that makes this show what it is. And I bet you laughed, too, when you were doing the edit for RUclips. I see you're (almost) finished, so I hope you enjoyed it.
If you are interested, there are comic book stories which continue the story of Serenity & her crew. They are completely faithful to the show and are considered canon. One of these stories is entitled “Serenity: A Shepherd’s Tale” and it reveals Shepherd Book’s backstory.
Glad I ran across your series and look forwerd to sharing this experience with you. I have loved this show since DAY1 of its release because it fallows in a genre that is dear to my heart, The Spaghetti Sy-Fy A mix of the old Spaghetti Westerns of the 50s and 60s and Sy-Fy. This was first made Popular in Star Wars by George Lucas, so if you have watched that, then you have been introduced to this genre. Hope you enjoy it as much as our family did. Thanks for sharing your experience with us, Bless and be well.
the show team found out they wouldn't be able to make any more _during_ the last episode they shot, so don't expect the show to come to any kind of conclusion. there is however the followup film _serenity_ to tie up some loose ends.
11:09 I love that you caught the fact Jayne was watching over Kaylee. During the show he was to be a mercenary that was always keeping his care for others hidden. Therefore when worried about Kaylee he was hiding outside looking in to hide the fact he cared. In the episode Ariel he will say something expressing his concern that Kaylee may get hurt.
3:30 he even wrote the song (both lyrics and music) fresh from a certain Buffy episode (Firefly pilot was between/around Dec '01 and Mar '02, from prep to post). There is a version he sang before the actual final version.
I don't usually sub after seeing just one video, but I really liked your reaction. You seemed to notice a lot of things that most miss, and I loved that you 'got' all the funny moments and jokes.
It's a great show! Was a shame it was canceled, but the movie "Serenity" was their attempt to tie all the loose ends up, so it's worth a watch after you're done with the show.
The colonists of these planets were largely Americans and Chinese. So the culture and language that evolved is a kind of American/Chinese hybrid. Plus it lets the characters curse on network tv.
The series is set in a solar system that is packed with all sorts of habitable planets. That way, they don't need a "warp drive" to get from one to the other in a reasonable amount of time. Reavers are the scary boogeymen of the show. We will learn more about them as the story goes on. Yeah, the language is supposed to be a hybrid of English and Chinese. But they mostly use Chinese to cuss and get that past the censors. It is a beautifully written and performed show. When it's over, it leaves you wanting more. Fortunately, there is a big screen movie, novels, and comic books, too.
In case nobody else has mentioned it, speaking Chinesecis a part of this Universe- the idea is that 2 cultures have surviived from Earth-That-Was- English speaking and Chinese speaking. Chinese is spoken mainly by the lower class people, but everybody is bi-lingal to some degree. It's mainly used, by our Big Damn Heroes as a way to swear and get it past the censors. You can pick up most of it from context.some of the curses have a literary, almost poetic tone to them.
Honestly, when you look at the chronological order, and then the order fox made them release it in, you would think they were trying to sabotage the show.
The inspiration for this series came from a book called "Killer Angels" which is a historical fiction novel about the American Civil War, which took place from April 1861-April of 1865. "Killer Angels" is a part of a three-book series that covers the entire war. While reading the book Joss thought it would be interesting to explore what life would be like for those who were on the losing side of the war who now had to live in the country or in this case galaxy, and under the government they lost to.
Someone may have already mentioned this, but you are spot on. In this universe, pretty much everyone are bi-lingual and even the least educated speak both English and Chinese fluently.
While most of the Mandarin & Cantonese words/phrases are meant to represent cursing, sometimes they use them to replace words/phrases in perfectly respectable conversations, for example, "Dong ma?" is "Understand?"
A new Browncoat is born! Shiny! The closest real world analogy to a Companion (Inara’s character) would be the Japanese Oiran, to whom the Geisha was an assistant.
So great that one of my favorite reactors in watching my all-time favorite show. If you are up to episode 10 now, I suspect you know why. Thank you again for watching this one-of-a-kind show.
a series created by people with a huge imagination, and destroyed by people deprived of such. and in spite of everything, it became such a phenomenon! no wonder that the dreams of its resurrection have not yet died out.
I was hoping you'd get around to this one. After seeing your Buffy and Angel reactions, I'm pretty sure you're going to love these characters and of course, W;hedons story telling. Enjoy!
So many interesting things will happen coming up. Love watching and hearing people's reaction to this show. Enjoy this masterpiece that was cut short, because of idiots at a company.
I watched it when it was originally aired, out of order, and loved it. I bought the DVDs when they came out and showed the first episode to a friend and his wife early one Friday night... They wouldn't let me leave until something like 2AM and only if I promised to come back the next night to watch the rest of it. They couldn't believe that the show was canceled, never to return. Canceling it was a crime. Maybe it would have gotten bad after a few seasons, maybe it would have somehow gotten better, but we will never get a chance to find out
When Wash mentions the Reaver ship is operating without core containment, he means that the ship's nuclear fusion core has no radiation shielding to protect the people inside. This is, as he puts it, suicidal and shows that the ship's crew is well past insane.
Yup! It's an example of Whedon & Minear dropping tech terms only science fans might know, so they can explain to family & friends also watching. 😎 Thanks; well said!
Westerns are about life on the frontier. Sci-fies like this are about life on the frontier. Of course they are similar. This series will continue to feel like a Western.
In the _Firefly_ universe (AKA "the 'verse"), humanity invented interstellar travel because our population was too great for "earth that was" to support us. So we traveled to the stars, and found a star cluster with many terraformable planets and moons, where we settled. And by "we" I mean the majority of humans, about half of whom were Chinese. So Chinese is a language that most people know. (From a production standpoint, of course, this meant that the characters in _Firefly_ could swear, in Chinese, without worrying about censorship.) Most people settled on the innermost planets, so those quickly became the new center of civilization. The inner planets are completely terraformed. They're wealthy. They have beautiful, sophisticated cities. And their government takes the position that IT should rule the entire cluster. That government is named "the Alliance." Not everyone agrees with the Alliance's position on this; many of the outer worlds disagreed and attempted to govern themselves. And when the Alliance tried to enforce its authority those outer worlds went to war with the alliance in an attempted secession. The battle at the beginning of this episode was the final battle of that war, the battle of Serenity Valley. And what you saw there was the moment when Mal lost his faith in God. Unfortunately, Mal is a known "brown coat" (secessionist) so there isn't much legal work available to him, so he's become a smuggler and (sometimes) a thief. Except, even though he may not believe in God any more he still has a conscience, so he isn't a very successful thief because he can't bear to steal something from people who really need what he's stealing. "Firefly" is a model of spaceship that's no longer in production in the 'verse, but is very useful to smugglers because it has so many convenient nooks and crannies where illicit items can be hidden. And Mal's Firefly is named "Serenity." Zoë, Mal's first mate, is the only crew member who was in the military with Mal; in later episodes you'll find out how they were recruited. Inara is a Registered Companion. She had to complete a great deal of training to become registered, and must undergo yearly exams to remain registered. Yes, Companions do engage in sex work, but to call one a "whore" is not merely impolite, it's so oversimplified as to be totally inaccurate. "Companion" is actually the more descriptive term. Companions provide companionship, which may or may not include sex, and they make a great deal of money doing so. Inara is the most respectable person on the Serenity; in that sense Mal's description of her as an ambassador was correct. In a pinch, Inara has enough status and respect to get Serenity and her crew out of trouble; she serves as Serenity's ambassador to society.
You already like this show, soon you'll love it. You wondered aloud about the "core containment" and the reavers issue. The core they are discussing is a nuclear engine core. The crew says the reavers are running WITHOUT containment. This would mean the ships nuclear engine would be flooding their ship with radiation. It doesn't seem possible for any living thing to survive that level of radiation exposure. Yet, that's what the reavers are doing. You will learn more about them.
The Firefly universe is best described in the into to "Serenity" (the movie) I wouldn't consider any of this to be a spoiler, it's just information to better understand the setting for the series: It's in the future, and the two major superpowers have merged into a World Government (Alliance). This has resulted in an interchange of Chinese and Western cultures. Earth is overpopulated, so we colonized another planetary system, ..one with dozens of planets and hundreds of moons. The inner planets remained technologically advanced while the outer planets were terra-formed and colonized by settlers who needed to revert to a more primitive "western" lifestyle, mainly because of lack of Alliance support. This eventually led to a war which the Alliance won, keeping the outer planets subjugated under Alliance control and neglect.
I agree that Captain Reynolds was pretty shattered by the events of the war. It seems as though each of the (regular) passengers and crew reflect some damaged part of his spirit, and his efforts to coordinate and protect them reflect his own inner struggle to heal. 😢
I believe this to be more accurate of how a future society would be. The richer planets would have Star Trek style tech while the poorer planets and outposts would be much more privative with bullets and horses.
You are right, Wheadon though that in the futue English and Chinese would be the main influencial languages, so he made the actors learn some phrases in Chinese
Firefly Ep 10 is now up on Patreon. For full reactions + more: www.patreon.com/SoFieReacts
You're in for a ride. It only gets better. Welcome to the browncoats!
When i told a friend to watch it, i said "The only thing you will regret is, that it only has 14 episodes" (+ the movie), and after he has finished the show, he confirmed that and that he was really sad, that it was over. And this is the usual reaction (and was mine too😢).
Do you have a schedule for how frequently you'll upload an episode to RUclips?
@@readhistory2023 what do you mean "Firefly Ep 10 is now up on Patreon." they are almost done.
I wonder if it's such a good idea to lag behind that much when it comes to the RUclips edits? It feels a bit pointless for me as a viewer to comment on things when you're actually almost done with the series.
Oh my. If you’re this invested after one episode, you’re going to thoroughly love this show...and be both furious and heartbroken when it’s over.
Reminds me when i watched firefly, thinking it could de just a random scifi. But oh my, binged all episodes + movie + extra's within one week.
From then the many reactions, Sofie reacting is gonna be ... interesting.
Something about not messing with a man with that hat
There are only two kinds of people in the world: Browncoats and people who have not yet seen Firefly.
Your assessment of Kaylee as “a bowl of sunshine” was apt, I loved that.
I also appreciated that you picked up on a few things that other people often miss. Mal’s loss of faith, how the ship was named, especially.
Love the fact you included your initial reaction to the theme song. It is mellow but heartwarming. Before the end of the series, you’ll be singing along.
I love the theme song so much now. But I had to get used to it. The first few times I heard it I was not a fan at all. Now every time I hear it I get a warm and fuzzy feeling of home.
i like the theme song SO MUCH that i had a Rimworld(a top down colony building game) MOD installed that would play it on loop 🤣
Welcome to the Browncoats!
Gina Torres was actually Jasmine because of her connection to _Firefly,_ so its funny to see people say, "Jasmine," when seeing Zoe.
Interesting that she said the episode's/"show" is going too fast when one of the reasons the higher ups made the writers rewrite the pilot and not air this episode (until the series was cancelled) was because they said it was slow-moving.
YAY! I didn't realize you had not seen "Firefly"! You are very perceptive! I enjoyed watching you react to a number of details even I didn't see when I first watched this. I think you will love this show and I look forward to watching more reactions! Welcome to the Browncoats!
This is a great show, with episodes that have different styles (comedy, horror, heists etc). The cast is outstanding, and as you can tell already, great chemistry - that's something that you just can't fake, and this cast had it in buckets. You'll have been told this dozens of times already, but also watch the movie, where some of your questions will finally get answered.
Firefly was a series that proved that a well thought out world makes a big difference. The way the world is revealed slowly over the series is great.
In my opinion "Serenity" is the perfect pilot a tv-show could create. It sets up the world perfectly, introduces the characters perfectly, has action, tension, humor, emotions, everything you could ask for.
The casting in this show is also amazing. Everybody has chemistry with each other. Already after the first few minutes I am totally convinced of the friendship and comradery of the crew. It feels like they have been living on this ship together for years and not just met to shoot the first episode of their show.
I also love the design of Serenity and how you get to know her so well that in every scene you know exactly where it takes place inside the ship.
This show hit the perfect blend of great direction, a cast with amazing chemistry, and great writing. Shows like this is very rare.
Being invested already, you too will be so pissed this got cancelled. Just hold on. There are some great episodes ahead.
*YES!*
Last time I saw you, you were Seeing Red, now you're seeing brown.
Sofie, you have no idea how happy this makes me.
Can't wait for you to find out why this is the best show in the 'Verse.
Welcome, Browncoat! 😁😁😁
It just makes my day to see a new reaction to Firefly and yours was delightful. You’re very observant and I love that you appreciate the humor. I can tell you’re going to join the ranks of a true Browncoat soon. Welcome!
Welcome to one of the greatest universes ever created. Love how quickly you picked up on things, especially the Chinese, the name of Serenity, how Mal lost his faith, and how sweet Kayleigh is. It's good that you are doing it in the chronological order, because they majorly screwed up by the release order, and even more of screw up by cancelling it after only one season. Looking forward to all the other reactions.
Especially picking up on the Mandarin, considering how poorly it was apparently spoken.
@@davidmills8726 They thought of using Mandarin to get around the sensors for curse words, and it worked.
To pick a nit, the opening scene was the Battle of Serenity Valley, and the final battle of the war. But yes, that's where Mal got the name for his ship.
@@Caseytify Yes, she was named after Serenity Valley battle.
I was impressed as well--you picked up more things in the pilot that most reviewers pick up in the entire series. Hopefully that keeps up because there's a lot more "little things" that are pretty crucial to truly understanding the characters!
Kaylee had enjoyed the strawberry because fresh food is a rarity for spacecraft and limited to harvest in frontier colonies and marketed to core civilizations.
Jewel Staite, on the other hand, does not like strawberries, meaning it shows her talent as an actress to make such enjoyment. She had to let the fans know as they started bringing strawberry goods for her at conventions.
Actually, she loved them well enough until the fans started sending her crates of them. Much like Patrick Stewart liked Earl Grey until the fans…
Great show!! Did you notice the mole was Doyle's ex-wife's fiancee and he was also the demon in the episode of Buffy where she played Anne.
One of the most instinctive reactions I have seen. You picked up so quickly on the core of Firefly as well as the subtler nuances. Exceptional and deserving of a Sub from me!
I knew you would pick up on most of the little details, Sofie. Like Mal being a man of faith and loosing it after loosing the battle of Serenity Valley. And props to you for making the connection between the place and the name of the ship.
It amazes me that I have not seen one reactor respond negatively to this episode, yet the highly paid experts at Fox watched it and rejected it. 🤨
It's a great day when your favorite reactor picks your favorite show! Let's gooooooo!
What can I say but Thank You. This show is a perfect example of a one season only series with so much potential for story and character growth ♥
The best single season show of all time.
Nathan Fillion is just great in this... You probably already got this as a suggestion, and I'm well aware that it's a huge show and a huge commitment given the amount of seasons; but the show "Castle" with him and Stana Katic is just awesome if you haven't watched it... A procedural crime/drama/comedy... You've probably heard of it since is one of the BIG shows of the 2000s
And watch the early seasons of "Suits" with Gina Torres.
@@Tampahop That show gets my vote as well... There are a few of the 2000s shows that would be cool to watch reactions for; but I understand that they are quite the adventure to go on given that they have 6, 7, 8 seasons with 20+ episodes each... And if she goes with Once Upon a Time, which is one of these great ones, she is going to be with it for a while
Sofie, I think you have embarked on a journey from which there is no return. This show will leave you wanting more. The crew portrayals and dialogue are unique, and easy to love! I am truly looking forward to your journey through this 'verse!
Aaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhh!!! So excited for Sophie’s reaction to this series!
I subscribed as soon as I saw how fast you picked up on many of the show’s plot points and character aspects. Now, looking forward to your journey through this fantastic series !
Yes!! Been hoping you'd do this!
Firefly is an amazing series.
I first watched it a few years after it was over. Even knowing that it only has one season, I was so sad because I knew there would not be enough.
But what we do have is great. I hope you enjoyed it.
"he was nonspecific as to how" is one of my favourite tv quotes ever.
So about the bits of Mandarin sprinkled in:
The official reason: The big contributors to space colonization spoke English and Mandarin, thus those are primary languages
The unofficial reason: You can curse in Mandarin and the censors won't stop it. So most of the time you here Mandarin, they're cursing.
You have taken the first step along a short but emotionally charged journey, this show was a one of a kind , with great writing and not an ounce of fat among the characters or stories. Looking forward to enjoying your reactions.
Geisha are not prostitutes. But a companion is like a geisha + high-end call girl with upper-class status.
Reavers aren't pirates.
The execs supposedly felt this pilot episode didn't have enough action and was too long being a double episode so the next episode was aired as the first episode after some rewriting.
The truth is the executive that green lighted this series was promoted and the replacement wanted to get rid of it for a much less expensive reality TV series and so began sabotaging it. First were the misleading TV commercials, then not showing the this episode until after the TV series was canceled after the 1st half of what would have been a 22 or 24 episode season, changing the day being aired, and also showing a few other episodes out of order. Three episodes weren't aired until summer without any announcement to the fans resulting in most never seeing them until the DVD release. The DVDs contain extremely good commentary for each episode which I found well worth listening to the second time around. The Buffy & Angel TV series DVDs also contain excellent commentary. One of the things you find out is that even if written by someone other than Joss Whedon he does go over every episode and some of the most memorable lines are from Joss.
Good choice!
I'm going to rewatch the series again to follow your reactions.
YAY!! So happy you are checking this out and enjoying it so far- This Pilot is my #1 favorite pilot of all time, followed by the Pilot of LOST and the Pilot of Alias. Interesting, I think they are all very fast paced with a lot of info.
And you're entirely right to be obsessed - it's a great show, with good characters and great actors. And, of course - not only is it a great series - but it didn't run long enough to jump the shark and get bad . Glad you enjoyed it.
YES!!! I love it when a favorite reactor begins Firefly. I can't remember if you've watched The Expanse, but please do.
This is the first video of yours I've seen. I'm glad you liked the show, but now I have to watch more of your reactions. 😀
Looking forward to it.
You'll be falling in love with all the characters.
Yes, Inara is like a Geisha. Another parallel would be the French Courtesans of the 18th century. They were valued for the culture and their wit as much as their looks. This is a very class conscious world, and Companions have high status.
Here's a clip from the movie (no spoilers). It provides some useful background.
ruclips.net/video/g-alzyvTtVE/видео.htmlsi=4oWxfUZ1sUkLFItt
Whedon was influenced partly by the end of the American Civil War; many southerners called the conflict the Second War of Independence, or the War of Northern Aggression. (no arguments, please; I'm just quoting them) Basically Mal is trying to stay as far from the Alliance as possible, which means the edges of the system. Most of those moons & planets have been incompletely terraformed, resulting in a desolate landscape. Hence the similarity to the American West.
Mal & Zoe are the only ones with military training. Jayne was either too young for the war, or he sat it out. As you might have guessed, he's fairly mercenary. Wash, the pilot, is not military at all. Damn fine pilot, though.
All of us were laughing along with the crew at the big fake out. Yes, it's messed up. Yes, it's psychotic. But it's just one of the beats that makes this show what it is. And I bet you laughed, too, when you were doing the edit for RUclips.
I see you're (almost) finished, so I hope you enjoyed it.
If you are interested, there are comic book stories which continue the story of Serenity & her crew. They are completely faithful to the show and are considered canon. One of these stories is entitled “Serenity: A Shepherd’s Tale” and it reveals Shepherd Book’s backstory.
Glad I ran across your series and look forwerd to sharing this experience with you. I have loved this show since DAY1 of its release because it fallows in a genre that is dear to my heart, The Spaghetti Sy-Fy A mix of the old Spaghetti Westerns of the 50s and 60s and Sy-Fy. This was first made Popular in Star Wars by George Lucas, so if you have watched that, then you have been introduced to this genre. Hope you enjoy it as much as our family did. Thanks for sharing your experience with us, Bless and be well.
the show team found out they wouldn't be able to make any more _during_ the last episode they shot, so don't expect the show to come to any kind of conclusion. there is however the followup film _serenity_ to tie up some loose ends.
I think there were some graphic novels.... But I'm still mourning the loss of this awesome show.
So excited, love this show
One of my favorite shows, I’m glad you found it! You’re going to love it!
11:09 I love that you caught the fact Jayne was watching over Kaylee. During the show he was to be a mercenary that was always keeping his care for others hidden. Therefore when worried about Kaylee he was hiding outside looking in to hide the fact he cared. In the episode Ariel he will say something expressing his concern that Kaylee may get hurt.
3:30 he even wrote the song (both lyrics and music) fresh from a certain Buffy episode (Firefly pilot was between/around Dec '01 and Mar '02, from prep to post). There is a version he sang before the actual final version.
The last conversation between Shepherd and Inara shows Inara touching Sepherd's head... blessing him and showing acceptance. That is a role reversal.
I don't usually sub after seeing just one video, but I really liked your reaction. You seemed to notice a lot of things that most miss, and I loved that you 'got' all the funny moments and jokes.
Welcome to the Firefly fan club.
I love it when I find a brand new reaction to this show. Welcome, Browncoat!
Yes, yes, yes! My favorite reactor reacting to my favorite tv-show. This has got to be epic 🥳
It's a great show! Was a shame it was canceled, but the movie "Serenity" was their attempt to tie all the loose ends up, so it's worth a watch after you're done with the show.
OMFG So excited to see you doing these!
It is always a treat seeing yet another wonderful person getting to experience this show. Enjoy the ride fellow future Browncoat.
The colonists of these planets were largely Americans and Chinese. So the culture and language that evolved is a kind of American/Chinese hybrid. Plus it lets the characters curse on network tv.
I love this show... The cast cursing in Chinese was a way for them to get past the censors for cursing on TV.
The series is set in a solar system that is packed with all sorts of habitable planets. That way, they don't need a "warp drive" to get from one to the other in a reasonable amount of time.
Reavers are the scary boogeymen of the show. We will learn more about them as the story goes on.
Yeah, the language is supposed to be a hybrid of English and Chinese. But they mostly use Chinese to cuss and get that past the censors.
It is a beautifully written and performed show. When it's over, it leaves you wanting more. Fortunately, there is a big screen movie, novels, and comic books, too.
Welcome to an incredible ride!! I look forward to your reactions to each & every episode! ❤🧡💛💚💙💜
In case nobody else has mentioned it, speaking Chinesecis a part of this Universe- the idea is that 2 cultures have surviived from Earth-That-Was- English speaking and Chinese speaking. Chinese is spoken mainly by the lower class people, but everybody is bi-lingal to some degree. It's mainly used, by our Big Damn Heroes as a way to swear and get it past the censors. You can pick up most of it from context.some of the curses have a literary, almost poetic tone to them.
Great reaction! So happy to find a new Firefly reaction series 😁
Honestly, when you look at the chronological order, and then the order fox made them release it in, you would think they were trying to sabotage the show.
17:22 That shot right there? Perfect encapsulation of the phrase "I ain't got time for this shit."
Oh hell yes! Right here for this one Sophie - one of my favorite series ever.
The inspiration for this series came from a book called "Killer Angels" which is a historical fiction novel about the American Civil War, which took place from April 1861-April of 1865. "Killer Angels" is a part of a three-book series that covers the entire war. While reading the book Joss thought it would be interesting to explore what life would be like for those who were on the losing side of the war who now had to live in the country or in this case galaxy, and under the government they lost to.
Someone may have already mentioned this, but you are spot on. In this universe, pretty much everyone are bi-lingual and even the least educated speak both English and Chinese fluently.
The random Chinese, Is their way of cursing and getting past the censors. They are basically speaking gibberish.
The actors were TRYING to say the real Chinese words and phrases, they were just very bad at it.
While most of the Mandarin & Cantonese words/phrases are meant to represent cursing, sometimes they use them to replace words/phrases in perfectly respectable conversations, for example, "Dong ma?" is "Understand?"
A new Browncoat is born! Shiny!
The closest real world analogy to a Companion (Inara’s character) would be the Japanese Oiran, to whom the Geisha was an assistant.
So great that one of my favorite reactors in watching my all-time favorite show. If you are up to episode 10 now, I suspect you know why. Thank you again for watching this one-of-a-kind show.
Fun one, Sofie! You've picked a great series. It's a keeper! Thanks for sharing it. 🙂
a series created by people with a huge imagination, and destroyed by people deprived of such. and in spite of everything, it became such a phenomenon! no wonder that the dreams of its resurrection have not yet died out.
We think that after Lover's Walk, we wouldn't fall for death fake-out again. But we all fell.
I'm only here to repeat what many have already said: you're gonna love this show. It'll be fun to watch along!
I think you’re absolutely going to love this one, Sofie.
From watching your Buffy reactions, this is perfect for your sense of humor.
Joss Whedon has created many great characters. If you ask me, these are his best and the cast playing them is great as well.
I think you are the only person I have seen watch Firefly that picked up on the reason for Mal having lost his faith.
I was hoping you'd get around to this one. After seeing your Buffy and Angel reactions, I'm pretty sure you're going to love these characters and of course, W;hedons story telling. Enjoy!
This is a great series. Looks like you are already invested in the characters. You are in for quite a ride. Enjoy.
Thank you for reacting to my favorite show. I am now subscribed.
So many interesting things will happen coming up. Love watching and hearing people's reaction to this show. Enjoy this masterpiece that was cut short, because of idiots at a company.
I thought you looked familiar! I remember your Nightwish - Ghost Love Score reaction :) Glad to see you on Firefly!
As you probably known by now.... The "chronologial order" is the story order, the order the episodes were written and intentded to be broadcast.
I watched it when it was originally aired, out of order, and loved it. I bought the DVDs when they came out and showed the first episode to a friend and his wife early one Friday night... They wouldn't let me leave until something like 2AM and only if I promised to come back the next night to watch the rest of it. They couldn't believe that the show was canceled, never to return.
Canceling it was a crime. Maybe it would have gotten bad after a few seasons, maybe it would have somehow gotten better, but we will never get a chance to find out
The Farscape pilot is even more chaotic
When Wash mentions the Reaver ship is operating without core containment, he means that the ship's nuclear fusion core has no radiation shielding to protect the people inside. This is, as he puts it, suicidal and shows that the ship's crew is well past insane.
Yup!
It's an example of Whedon & Minear dropping tech terms only science fans might know, so they can explain to family & friends also watching. 😎
Thanks; well said!
Westerns are about life on the frontier.
Sci-fies like this are about life on the frontier.
Of course they are similar. This series will continue to feel like a Western.
In the _Firefly_ universe (AKA "the 'verse"), humanity invented interstellar travel because our population was too great for "earth that was" to support us. So we traveled to the stars, and found a star cluster with many terraformable planets and moons, where we settled. And by "we" I mean the majority of humans, about half of whom were Chinese. So Chinese is a language that most people know. (From a production standpoint, of course, this meant that the characters in _Firefly_ could swear, in Chinese, without worrying about censorship.)
Most people settled on the innermost planets, so those quickly became the new center of civilization. The inner planets are completely terraformed. They're wealthy. They have beautiful, sophisticated cities. And their government takes the position that IT should rule the entire cluster. That government is named "the Alliance."
Not everyone agrees with the Alliance's position on this; many of the outer worlds disagreed and attempted to govern themselves. And when the Alliance tried to enforce its authority those outer worlds went to war with the alliance in an attempted secession.
The battle at the beginning of this episode was the final battle of that war, the battle of Serenity Valley. And what you saw there was the moment when Mal lost his faith in God.
Unfortunately, Mal is a known "brown coat" (secessionist) so there isn't much legal work available to him, so he's become a smuggler and (sometimes) a thief. Except, even though he may not believe in God any more he still has a conscience, so he isn't a very successful thief because he can't bear to steal something from people who really need what he's stealing.
"Firefly" is a model of spaceship that's no longer in production in the 'verse, but is very useful to smugglers because it has so many convenient nooks and crannies where illicit items can be hidden. And Mal's Firefly is named "Serenity." Zoë, Mal's first mate, is the only crew member who was in the military with Mal; in later episodes you'll find out how they were recruited.
Inara is a Registered Companion. She had to complete a great deal of training to become registered, and must undergo yearly exams to remain registered. Yes, Companions do engage in sex work, but to call one a "whore" is not merely impolite, it's so oversimplified as to be totally inaccurate. "Companion" is actually the more descriptive term. Companions provide companionship, which may or may not include sex, and they make a great deal of money doing so. Inara is the most respectable person on the Serenity; in that sense Mal's description of her as an ambassador was correct. In a pinch, Inara has enough status and respect to get Serenity and her crew out of trouble; she serves as Serenity's ambassador to society.
You already like this show, soon you'll love it.
You wondered aloud about the "core containment" and the reavers issue.
The core they are discussing is a nuclear engine core. The crew says the reavers are running WITHOUT containment. This would mean the ships nuclear engine would be flooding their ship with radiation. It doesn't seem possible for any living thing to survive that level of radiation exposure. Yet, that's what the reavers are doing. You will learn more about them.
Core containment means anti-radioactivity shielding.
It was fun watching someone seeing this for the first time 😊
The Firefly universe is best described in the into to "Serenity" (the movie)
I wouldn't consider any of this to be a spoiler, it's just information to better understand the setting for the series:
It's in the future, and the two major superpowers have merged into a World Government (Alliance). This has resulted in an interchange of Chinese and Western cultures.
Earth is overpopulated, so we colonized another planetary system, ..one with dozens of planets and hundreds of moons.
The inner planets remained technologically advanced while the outer planets were terra-formed and colonized by settlers who needed to revert to a more primitive "western" lifestyle, mainly because of lack of Alliance support.
This eventually led to a war which the Alliance won, keeping the outer planets subjugated under Alliance control and neglect.
I agree that Captain Reynolds was pretty shattered by the events of the war. It seems as though each of the (regular) passengers and crew reflect some damaged part of his spirit, and his efforts to coordinate and protect them reflect his own inner struggle to heal. 😢
Great show. I've never seen your channel before, but I'll go on this ride with you.
I believe this to be more accurate of how a future society would be. The richer planets would have Star Trek style tech while the poorer planets and outposts would be much more privative with bullets and horses.
"...and if we are very lucky, they will do it in that order." Best bogeyman set up ever.
Great show! I subscribed for this one..
Sofie, if you like this space sci-fi you should definitely watch The Expanse - the best sci-fy show ever imho
When Firefly was cancelled, Whedon put the cast into his other shows (Buffy, Angel, Doll House). Did you notice that the fed was also in Buffy?
In the firefly universe there is a blending of eastern and western cultures. The east and west had to band together to leave Earth and colonize space.
You are right, Wheadon though that in the futue English and Chinese would be the main influencial languages, so he made the actors learn some phrases in Chinese
Kaylee and Wash is what makes Serenity Serenity. Without them...this would be a whole other kind of show.