Goodbye&Firefly
&&&&&&&&&Who
said that faint light lamp Firefly flashing is in
盛夏的夜空，独自为黑夜闪烁。。
犹记得小时候乡下的萤火虫，有着淡绿色的微光，洒满整张漫无边际的黑纸。。萤火虫径直撞入我冰凉的手心，带给她一阵寒颤。张开小手小心翼翼的捧着，像得了稀世珍宝，目光穿过手心的小孔，透过睫毛，一闪一闪的神秘绿光，像一眨一眨的眼睛，想要诉说自己的故事一样。我总是选择静静的等待聆听，她却未曾启齿。。
她应该拥有很多秘密吧，那么让人向往的颜色，穿梭于时光的隧道，从古代直至今日今时。。每当天空洒下第一抹日光时，她总是消失的无影无踪，应该没有人知道她的秘密花园吧。。我找了好久，树丛下，稻田旁，荷塘里，到筋疲力尽的瘫坐在草地上。。可是到了夜幕降临的时候，她又环绕在我身旁飞舞，依然闪烁着熟悉的光色。。她知道我喜欢她的。。
城市的霓虹灯胜过她的光色，她也不存在于的喧闹城市，可能嘈杂的声音、泛滥的人群会让她眩晕，找不到自己吧。以至于后来再也没见过她。她有没有想恋过我呢。
看【再见萤火虫】的时候，没有哭泣，只是听到心哽咽的声音，一上一下。
看到节子和哥哥一起嬉戏在乡下的萤火虫中时，我突然想到小时候在乡下乘凉时遇到的她。。可惜那时她不在我身边。。
到了十八岁的那年，她放弃了外地的工作，回来--只为我。。那时候我们一起睡在一张好大好大的床上，第一次触碰到她的肌肤，条件性的反射动作--逃离。。她总要我靠近她、温暖我。。殊不知，她的体温其实是处于零下一度的。我要分给她我的体温。那时---我才知道、其实我是爱她的。
她就是她--只为照亮我。。
这个世界没有不幸，只有越挫越勇的经历。。她说过的。
就像均卿老先生说的：不必歆羡他人之福，怨恨自己之命，是何异雪上加霜，愈以毁灭人生之一切也。无论如何处境之中，可以不必郁郁，须从郁郁之中，生出希望和快乐之精神。
过去的就过去了，只当作是人生脚本中的对白。
她从我的童年到我的十八岁，就像在梦境里摇曳的风筝，忽隐忽现。抓不住连接她的线，只见在深蓝色天空里凌乱挥舞的手指。参差不齐的节奏。
以慌乱的心情过了这么多年。突然有一天发现，有个人是多么在乎你。却不知道该怎么继续自己的生活，手不知摆在何处，也不明白该怎么样去表达自己对她的在乎。像溺水的人抓住了一根浮草。唯一可以依靠的感觉。
选择不再被平淡的生活压着，也只有去为她去一搏。
我成为了画画的孩子。
黑白色-五颜六色-线条。
选择并不难，难得是走下去的心情。
以前她说我像个小孩，总爱让她猜。我觉得她才像个小孩，总要我说明白。只是为了给她个安慰。她知道的。
路程都是艰难的，结果都是欣慰的。第一次的那个班，每个人都打着颓废的旗号，用睡眠消磨课堂。我也逃不出。那时候我还是一个人。
后来的日子，换了画室。躲到墙角，撑开画板，微弱的光折射到画纸上，长短不一的光线刺痛了眼，眼睛被迫成了弧线。留下一丝余光在睫毛闪烁。犹记得当时那种卑微的心情，只因我不够出众。直到有一天，老师给我看了第一张画，被发现的感觉很奇妙。我不是最出色的，但可以做的更好。我一直相信。
辗转到武汉学画的时候，秋的景色已弥漫笼罩了整个生活。青绿混合了金黄的颜色，忧郁夹杂着愉快的情绪，而希望混合了回想。。
每天重复着，背着大画板，抓牢画具箱，挤进塞满了的公交大面包，迷糊的就到达了终点站。还以为梦游在没有尽头的街呢。。手总是冰的，眼睛总是迷离的，脑袋总是空白的。回来总是会坐过该下车的站。呆呆的返回。一天的游离最后就用一碗拉面犒劳了，真是太容易满足了。
第一次一个人单独生活，没有束缚感。只是觉得当静下来的时候离孤单是那么近，伸手及触的距离，我想大概没有七毫米吧。这也算成长经历吧。自己照顾好自己原来那么难。
第一次雪下的那么匆忙、认真，我都没来得及做好准备，就静静把整个灰色空间变得那么光亮。
遍地的白色让我感到窒息，一个人站在雪中央。喜欢她的安静、纯白。没有杂质的让我不忍心去做一个破坏者。耳旁的传来：雪一片一片一片一片，在天空静静缤纷。。。
其实我不是个乖孩子，外表的安静恬然骗了所以的人，里面的七上八下早就在捣腾。窃喜。
没有刻骨铭心的爱恋在十八岁之前光顾，可是不后悔的。至少我遇到了谍。她陪我坐。我陪她坐。似曾相识的感觉。就像我一直认为这世界有相同的落叶，也许在火星的另一端有同样一个我，心里想着同样的小秘密。和她在一起。真的不用在意在值得纪念的年纪有没有出现一个他。
疯狂的结束了高三，那年我十八岁。在二零零八的那个夏天。没有预兆的结束。
阳台上趴着四个女孩。。
我到了大学。和她一起。兜着兴奋、迷茫的怪心情。
她会心的笑了。甜在我的心。相偎相依的走到我的青春。也是在盛夏。萤火虫在心里成群乱舞。
我不再是那一个乱撞的萤火虫。远处的灯塔泛着微弱的淡黄色光。吸引着我。
被子上还残留着皂粉味，嘴角的咖啡味还在回味。躺在床上，做了个漫天飞舞的萤火虫的梦。我夹着淡绿色的尾巴。回忆的梦。
&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&[
已投稿到：
以上网友发言只代表其个人观点，不代表新浪网的观点或立场。Show Spoilers
Night Vision
Sticky Header
Display Options
Show Spoilers
Night Vision
Sticky Header
You need to
to do this.
if you don't have an account
Series / Firefly
(from left) , , , , , , , , and . Inside her boots: . In the background: .Simon: You have the A criminals and savages. Half the people on the ship have been shot or wounded, including yourself... and you're harboring known fugitives. Mal: We're still flying. Simon: That's not much. Mal: It's enough.— Firefly is a
that ran for four months on the
Network in 2002. It was canceled after 14 ep only 11 were aired, thanks in part to a severe case of . Its quick cancellation helped give rise to . A DVD box set was released in December 2003 and has sold briskly ever since. A feature-film continuation, , was released in October 2005 to critical acclaim.In the future, humanity has spread across the stars, terraforming planets for colonization and creating a new frontier reminiscent of the old Wild West. The dominant power in this time is the monolithic Alliance, whose iron grip on the 'verse has tightened after a failed rebellion by a group known as 'Independents' or 'Browncoats', the latter having become the demonym for the franchise's fandom.Malcolm Reynolds is a former Browncoat who now captains a
called Serenity. Working as an
jack-of-all-trades, he tries to eke out a life for himself and his crew away from the reach of the Alliance. However, things change when he inadvertently lets a deadly Alliance secret board his ship: a
who was subject to horrific experimentation aiming to turn her into a .The show was created by
( Productions), and
science fictional concepts (interplanetary travel, spaceships, ) with a Western setting (poor agricultural colonies where people ride horses, cattle ranching, cowboy slang). The Firefly universe contains , and in fact no non-Earth-based life at all.Firefly's life story is an interesting one: it went from (canceled) television show, to runaway cult hit DVD series, to comic-book , to major motion picture, to a
having show-related pics and a few new stories to a
, titled . Firefly is noted for being one of the few canceled television series to be
into a major motion picture. The
was titled
still owned the rights to the name Firefly. There are also a few , with plans for more. There's even a . There are also constant rumors about a second television series (Whedon and many of the principals have constantly said they would be willing to pick up the show, with Fillion going so far as to say he'd be willing to buy the rights from Fox), and the cult status the series has attained after its premature cancellation may have saved
only lasted until December of 2009. The cast included:
of the Firefly-class transport .
as , his , gun-slinging badass and
among snarkers. She is
as , . A man with . .
as , . . Famous enough to be referenced in . According to , when Kaylee smiles, everything suddenly becomes shiny.
as , a promising young
from a privileged family, now . Well-spoken but with an acerbic wit, and spends most of his time looking after...
sister he rescued from
who is a little
with a , .
who is a member of the . Or, as
calls her, a "".This page has a . has all 14 episodes of the series available for streaming. (NOTE: ) It is also all up for instant stream on Netflix, Amazon Instant and Hulu Plus. Starting March 6th 2011, the show also began playing, in the correct order, on the Science Channel and in glorious HD.In November 2012, the Science Channel aired a Firefly 10th anniversary special, titled "Browncoats Unite". It featured two of the main writers of the show, Jose Molina and Tim Minear, along with most of the cast, including Nathan Fillion, Adam Baldwin, Summer Glau, Alan Tudyk and Sean Maher, where they did a sort of retrospective of the show's history and its cult-classic status over the past ten years. In addition, Jewel Staite, Gina Torres and Morena Baccarin were interviewed separately and added their own comments on their involvement with the show. The forty-minute special culminated in the writers and actors taking the stage at their Comic-Con panel, which included Joss Whedon himself as well.See also , .This series provides examples of:&&&&open/close all folders& &&&&Tropes A-D& : Although conspiracy theories still abound, and a fake alien (really a cow fetus) hangs in a civilian space station, purported to be a sign of alien life by a busker. : The Tams seem to have a pair. Although they were never physically abusive (that we know of), they tended to favor Simon, shipped River to the Academy and then didn't follow up on her well being even when her messages made less and less sense, threatened Simon with disownment if he attempted to aid River (and followed through on this threat), and have seemingly done little to aid their 'fugitive' children. Parents of the year, right there. : In "The Train Job", hopped up on who knows what (intended as anaesthetic) Jayne manages to shoot an enemy right in the kneecap. When complimented on it, he replies " " Made rather worrying by the fact that there were two or three people he could have hit if he had missed by that far in any other direction. : In "Jaynestown", Jayne tells of how he was forced to dump a ton of money to escape from a job-gone-wrong. The money landed in a poverty-stricken village and the villagers convinced themselves he did it . : "Our Mrs. Reynolds". After a successful mission, Mal celebrates a little too much and does not realize his part in a bizarre wedding ritual. . Or not, if you're Mal. : From the start, there is a lot of tension and distrust between Mal and Simon. Despite the distrust, when Simon is about to let himself be killed for his sister in "Safe" Mal comes in leading the team in a rescue party, demanding they let the two go. When Mal is in danger in "War Stories" Simon's aim is too poor to be of any help but he still manages to survive. : Zoe, Mal's second-in-command since the civil war and a great fighter. River can
because of it. Saffron. See
below. Nandi from "Heart of Gold" is a badass lady. She is not afraid to fight when she needs to protect hers own. : In "War Stories", Mal assumes that the bodyguard of one of Inara's clients is "The Councillor." Neither he, nor any of the others, was expecting a . : Simon Tam. Mostly when he's around Kaylee, and helped along by his
status - notable in that it's quite a change from the calm, collected demeanour he assumed when he first came on board Serenity. Wash also qualifies, especially shown in the episode "Our Mrs. Reynolds". Each of the cast has at least one moment of this. : The series posits the very, very real fear that your children could be targeted by a variety of threats, including rapist pirates and the government - which also brings up hefty fears of government repression and regulation. There's the fact that the Tam siblings are forced to become outlaws because their own parents would turn them back to the Alliance, despite the clear evidence that the Academy was doing horrible things to River. This plays off of the fear of child abuse and children being unable to rely on their parents for sufficient protection. River had been recruited by a prestigious school because she was gifted. Why? So she could be abused, tortured, and experimented on. It gets worse... she was regularly sending back perfectly innocent and happy letters in her own handwriting so all this happens without you ever suspecting a thing. : Subverted in the episode "The Message". When this trope is attempted by Serenity, the pursuing ship simply flies above the canyon, keeping the ship in view. And when the heroes try to hide, the pursuers flush them out with saturation bombing. : Jayne, the big baby. . River. Decidedly not played for laughs. She suffered horribly in the labs of the Alliance. Some of her flashbacks are really dreadful and scary. :
more often than not. The Reavers serve this purpose, as there are
and the characters are more likely to find themselves up against other humans than anything. : Averted. The series devotes an entire episode to repeatedly demonstrating that Zoe is not, nor has she ever been, attracted to Mal. Or Jayne (as if that needed saying). : Serenity, who was already old and sitting derelict (and planet-bound) in a junkyard when Mal bought her. Alliance Captain:: Firefly? They still make those? Book tells Kaylee that he once travelled in an "Aught-1" (Serenity is an "Aught-3") Firefly long before Kaylee was even crawling, implying that the class was old even when he was young. The movie later points out that bits frequently fall off the ship. Zoe's first reaction upon being shown the ship in a flashback in "Out of Gas" was ""Mal: I tell you, Zoe, we get a mechanic, get her up and running again, hire a good pilot, maybe a cook - Live like real people. A small crew - They must feel the need to be free. Take jobs as they come. They never have to be under the heel of nobody ever again. No matter how long the arm of the Alliance might get... we'll just get ourselves a little further. Zoe: "Get her running again?" Mal: That's right. Zoe: So not running now? Mal: Not so much. Discussed in "Our Mrs. Reynolds", in which some scavengers are discussing Serenity. One observes that it is just a hunk of junk, and the other observes that put together, all that junk makes a Firefly, which will keep flying practically forever with even a halfway competent mechanic to keep it going. : , as all visited planets and moons have explicitly been
to one degree or another. It should be noted that the core planets, where the wealthy and powerful live and where the Alliance is concentrated, enjoy much more extensive terraforming than the outer worlds where the poorer folk live. : Simon and Kaylee in "Objects in Space". : One of the several problems Mal has to solve in "Out of Gas". : The Cortex spans the star system in which the franchise takes place. It's used for both video chat and browsing information in the series. RPG materials explain that access is cloud-based and pay-by-the-minute for private citizens unless they can afford a dedicated source box. : Reavers. Introduced by Zoe in the pilot: Zoe: If they take the ship, they'll rape us to death, eat our flesh, and sew our skins into their clothing. And if we're very, very lucky, they'll do it .
: At the end of "Heart of Gold" when there is a funeral held for those who did not survive the fight. : Wash in "Bushwhacked": "Have you ever been with a warrior woman?" : Inara is sometimes referred to as the ship's ambassador, mostly in the pilot. : Kaylee is in love with Simon, but looks just as ecstatic as Jayne does when learning that Inara is . : The episode "Out of Gas," which starts
and flashes back to both
and . This was inadvertently done to the series as a whole, as the episodes were aired out of order during their original run on . : The crew of the Serenity are all criminals (except for Inara, who is a high-class prostitute, making her the most respectable member of the crew) and Mal and Zoe can be fairly ruthless. Jayne, a mercenary of minimal morality, zero delicacy, and inconsistent loyalties, takes this trope the furthest. : Jayne's policy, which he explains (to general horror) after Mal experiences the
in "Our Mrs. Reynolds". : Wash: Psychic, though? That sounds like something out of science fiction. Zoe: We live on a spaceship, dear. Wash: So? : "Two by two, hands of blue..." The
crops up a lot in logos, advertisements and billboards in the background, as well as one of Jayne's t-
has said the show was cancelled before this could be explored. :
, whether that is actually true or not. : From "Our Mrs. Reynolds", Book's "special hell" for child molesters and people who talk in the theater. Simon detailing what River is gifted at in the pilot episode "Serenity": Math, Theoretical Physics, and... Dance. : From "The Train Job":Sheriff: It's funny your uncle never went to mentioning the Bowden's problem. Or that Joey Bloggs ate his own gun, about eight months back. Mal: Did he? Sheriff: Yep. Blew the back of his head right off. () Mal: So... ? : Throughout the series, Book is implied to have a checkered and unsavory past.
Confirmed by the comic "A Shepherd's Tale". : 80% of "Objects In Space" is Jubal Early echoing 's existentialist views with Simon at gunpoint. The other 20%? 's bare feet, and .
goes into even greater detail in the solo commentary which accompanies the episode. : It is a space western... with T-Shirts, corporate logos, the occasional mongol raider-style hat and space hookers. Of course everyone looks awesome! : River is so quick with math, that in "War Stories", she only needed to glance at Niska's men for a second before killing all three of them in one shot each with her eyes closed. Kaylee remarks in "Objects in Space" that she just "did the math." : River, though she has a reason for it. : "Shindig" starts with slavers chatting over a game of holographic billiards. : River. : Simon. River qualifies as well since she's supposed to have been even smarter than Simon before the Alliance's horrific experiments. Not that the experiments have stopped her from having moments of clarity, revealing said intellect in the process. : The crew of the Serenity consists of two war veterans from the losing side of a civil war, a mercenary with a , a preacher with a , a
who is also a , a mechanic with an innate understanding of machinery who can fix problems by analysis, an , a doctor and a
with . : Wash. He's an ace of a pilot and can pull off several very dangerous maneuvers. : Book, though he never married and will insist he's not a grandpa. : Mal and Zoe in their browncoats. : Book. Unsurprising given his implied past. Mal: Now you can luxuriate in a nice jail cell, but if your hand touches metal, I swear by my pretty floral bonnet I will end you. Mal is good for these, but one of the best actually comes from
Wash:Wash: (referring to Mal) Niska's gonna kill him.Zoe: He's gonna want to make it last as long as he can. Days if possible.Wash: (pushes himself to his feet, a look of grim determination on his face) Bastard's not gonna get days. : Adelai Niska, who regularly tortures people for minor, minor details. Like talking at a wedding. : River has lots of them. : Skillfully done in the pilot. Simon is introduced with ominous music,
and an unsmiling, formal demeanor, seemingly marking him as a villain. Dobson, meanwhile, is in the background of almost every scene and is treated like an extra. This makes
that Dobson is
as much a surprise to the audience as to the characters. : Wash's reaction to the preserved mutant cow fetus in "The Message". (Simon is standing nearby, just after having angered Kaylee... again.)Wash: Oh my god, it's grotesque! Oh, and there's something in a jar. : "The Ballad of Jayne Cobb" "The Ballad of Serenity" : The Guild of Companions. : A constant among Serenity's crew. : Inara, on occasion. : River in "Objects in Space". Though she probably should have known what the reaction of Simon, who gave up everything to keep her from the Alliance, was going to be, with a plan that involves her saying she was going to give herself up. The whole crew in "Trash". This one also counts as a , since the crew would have gotten away with it whether
had turned on Mal or not. : An absolutely hilarious example in "Objects in Space" where
Jubal Early steps out into an empty hallway and he then turns to look the other way as the camera pans to show a very confused Mal staring blankly at the intruder. There's also the end of Shindig where Mal and Inara are talking in the cargo bay, and then the camera moves back a few dozen feet to show a herd of cows, all mooing noisily the moment the audience can see them : One of the Reavers' most sadistic tricks. Sometimes, when they take a ship, they leave one person alive and . The one time we saw this in-series ("Bushwhacked") it resulted in the unfortunate victim trying to become a pseudo-Reaver himself as a coping mechanism. : Featured in "Heart of Gold", Nandi is this for Inara. : Between Mal and Inara, and Mal and Saffron to a degree. Done
with . : A handy list of things that will make you want to leave this room: Do not insult Serenity in front of Kaylee. Just don't. She's her mechanic and doesn't take it well. River has her own almost literal , but she can't control it and it's made her insane.
Until the end of Serenity, at least. Jubal Early does not like it when you visit his intentions. From the pilot, do not imply you believe that Mal . Simon got decked for it. Jayne: Saw that comin'. : In "The Message", Tracy does make it to his homeworld for a proper funeral, as requested by him in his fake - later real - will. :
that Derrial Book was not Shepherd's real name, but rather he had taken the identity of a man he had killed. . : Saffron briefly pretends to be one of these at the end of "Our Mrs Reynolds" — it does not work. Tries again in "Trash", for about 30 seconds — also doesn't work.
River: No power in the 'verse can stop her. Also, she can kill you with her brain. Simon has also shown the capability of fucking you up... politely. Mal qualifies, as generally he's affable, decent, and polite. It takes a lot to push him over the edge, but once he's there, there's pretty much nothing he won't do, or do to you, to get revenge. : River tries to "fix" Book's copy in "Jaynestown". : The Alliance, at least on the Core Worlds, has a widespread surveillance system, which is why Zoe is reluctant to leave the ship while on Core Worlds. Dialogue between Simon and his father in a flashback in "Safe" suggests that the Alliance keeps a record of certain
when Simon's father walked into a jail to pick him up, it was apparently recorded on his permanent profile. : Simon has this for River, and everyone has this for Kaylee. : As a result of the above, River adores her brother. : The first episode shows the tail-end of the Serenity Valley battle, while "The Message" explores one small part of an earlier campaign. : The trope name comes from dialogue near the end of the episode "Safe". The awesomeness is emphasized further by Zoe and Mal having to shout over the engine noise of Serenity hovering above them.Mal: Well, look at this! Seems like we got here just in the nick of time. And what does that make us?Zoe: , sir!Mal:
: The Chinese curses, which according to
mean things like "frog-humping son-of-a-bitch" and "holy mother of God and all her wacky nephews." The phrases themselves , but the actors' pronunciation was often so poor as to be incomprehensible. : An erstwhile Alliance officer made his fortune using biological weapons to depopulate communities, then he looted their untouched valuables. Maybe. The only evidence comes from a pathological liar. : Atherton of "Shindig", who loves Inara in his own sick, twisted, possessive, misogynistic, cruel way. At first, he's a well-mannered gentleman, but at the slightest hint of Mal trying to help Inara, he's throwing her off him and attempting to kill Mal. Tracy of "The Message", who tricks his old war buddies to both take the fall for, and avoid, dirty business he got into in the first place, nearly getting them killed, and when confronted over it, takes Kaylee hostage and gloats about tricking said war buddies, calling them "saps", saying he specifically chose them because he knew they'd get all emotional and willing to help out an "old friend". When he's mortally wounded by Mal, he realizes just how far he's fallen. Saffron's M.O. : I explicitly shown in "War Stories".
/ : The short story "Take the Sky" included in the Firefly: Still Flying companion book. Set 20 years after , whether it leans towards bitter or sweet depends on which character you focus on. Of course, there is always the chance that
in a split second before he faces the Operative for the final time, but it is ambiguous enough to speculate on. And there might be foreshadowing. : Shown in the pilot episode, with Kaylee enjoying a strawberry and the crew getting excited about fresh vegetables and herbs. : In "", Mal and Kaylee infiltrate a ball on Persephone, with Kaylee—correction, Miss Kaywinnit Lee Frye—playing the role of a debutante so that Mal can get in touch with an aristocratic contact for a smuggling job.Kaylee: These girls have the most beautiful dresses. (gestures at her dress) And so do I! How about that? Mal: Yeah, well, just be careful. We cheated Badger out of good money to buy that frippery, and you're supposed to make me look respectable. : Mal's "jabber, jabber, jabber". : River. : The Hands of Blue kill people using a small pen-shaped ultrasonic weapon that causes bleeding from he eyes, nose, mouth, ears, and even the finger nails. It looks extremely painful. : Jayne Cobb. Monty from "Trash". : Goodbye, Dobson. He survives in the comics, though. Not that it helps him any when Mal pulls this off a second time, with much more fatal results... and then shoots him again just to make sure. : Mal. This and
have forced him to become a master of the . : Jubal Early from "Objects in Space." Very much the evil sadist version. : In this case, comes conveniently pre-broken. There are
that were released as a lead-in to the movie, and several flashbacks to see her being broken. Jubal is breaking Kaylee in "Objects in Space".
River helps fix her.
Wash in the episode "War Stories", for a bit. : Inverted, when River gives one to Badger in "Shindig" and later to Jubal Early in "Objects in Space". : Combined with
in "Jaynestown". At the start of the episode, Kaylee and Simon are arguing about whether or not Simon uses swear words. Simon says he swears "when it's appropriate." After arriving on Higgins' Moon and discovering a statue of Jayne in the town square, Simon lets out a dumbfounded "Son of a bitch!" : ...well, it is a
show. : Kaylee is welding the Ambulance in "Ariel." : Zoe's is dented in the pilot. Jubal Early is seen wearing what is referred to as 'armor' in "Objects in Space". Given the outfit's resemblance to that of the Operative and the Operative's armor's resemblance to the vests worn by Alliance federals and soldiers, this might indicate a consistent design in 26th century armor. Wash also very cheerfully suggests a subversion: Wash: What about his face? Is his face wearing armor? : River almost has this done to her in "Safe." : "The Message." : In the climactic showdown of "Heart of Gold," the first person on the defenders' side to be shot is one of the few "boy whores," whom both Kaylee and Nandi imply only service men. : In "War Stories", Zoe tries this to get Mal and Wash back from Niska. When Niska only consents to let one of them go and tries to give Zoe a , she doesn't hesitate to choose her husband. : Tall Card, the card game played during "Shindig." The actors insisted that the writer create actual rules for the game, which she dutifully did, so that they would have proper motivation. It is still incomprehensible to the audience. The "hoop-ball" game they play at the start of "Bushwhacked," which even Simon says is not being played according to any rules that he can discern. It may be called "Spaceball," based on a soundtrack title. : The Reavers, inspired by the legendary Sawney Bean clan. : In "Bushwhacked", the Reavers left one of those in a spaceship they, well, bushwhacked. : In "Out of Gas", Simon is apparently bad at telling funny stories about working at hospitals, not that Jayne gives him much of a chance. "Objects In Space" either shows that he can if he is given a chance, or else . When he tries to make a wry observation to Kaylee in "The Message," it goes very badly. : Played straight with Mal and Inara. Subverted, with
Simon and Kaylee. He tells her she's pretty,
and later tells her his politeness (stiffness, in her book) is just his way of showing her he likes her. Of course, he still bungles . : "The Train Job," "Ariel," and "Trash." Also, the beginning of the . : Usually Mal as the Master Mind, Zoe as the Partner In Crime, both of them as the Burglars, Jayne as the Muscle, Wash as the Driver, Kaylee as the Gadget Girl and Coordinator. : The Mule, done by Wash in "The Train Job", and later used in "War Stories" as well. : Simon, for River. : When Mal and Wash are being
by Niska, they argue about whether Mal ever slept with Zoe. Mal
to keep Wash's mind active so he doesn't succumb to the torture. Later, after Wash is somewhat recovered, he realizes what Mal was doing with obvious gratitude. :
is confirmed to take place in a massive five-star system: one giant star in the center and four smaller stars orbiting it, with each star having its own sub-system of planets and moons and even a couple dwarf stars. ◊ : Wash and Mal share in some heavy breathing after the Reavers don't attack them. : In episode Bushwacked,(nearly) the whole crew of a derelict cargo vessel strung upside down on the ceiling awaiting discovery by River long after the others had entered and explored the rest of the ship looking for them. : M from "The Train Job":Jayne: You know what the chain of command is?
'til ya understand who's in ruttin' command here. : "Just... tell me when we get there." : Simon to River. : The episode "Trash" has Mal run into
his ex-wife, who tried to get him and his crew killed on some backwater moon. As soon as they see each other they draw guns on each other. : The port compression coil. Mentioned back in episode one ("Serenity"). Becomes very important in episode 8 ("Out of Gas"). Chronologically speaking, Kaylee telling Mal how the coil fits in the drive is a , given that he remembers it after he is shot in the stomach and manages to install the coil even as he is bleeding. The same part then shows up at the dump on Ariel, only to be tossed aside by Wash. You'd think he'd want to keep a spare after what happened. Though Wash probably didn' we see Kaylee find one in the Reaver wreckage and keep it. In "Our Mrs. Reynolds," Jayne shows off , then uses it at the end of the episode to disable an electricity net. : Fess Higgins in "Jaynestown", who seems to be in an unimportant C plot with Inara...until he releases his father's land-lock on Serenity. : Used throughout the series, most often on the actual ship but also in other locations—for example, Badger's den on Persephone, and any of the border planets at night. : Or more accurately, China takes over half the world (). : Mal suffers a vicious case of it. : Possible but illegal because, according to Simon, "the technology's not ready yet." Nevertheless, in "The Message" Mal and Zoe's war buddy Tracy is being used to smuggle cloned organs. : River Tam as a result of her psychosis. Jubal Early. Full stop. : Simon. : The Alliance, which started out as an alliance between the United States and China. Unproduced scripts name it the "Anglo-Sino Alliance," but "Ariel" titles it the "Union of Allied Planets." : Mal and Wash are tortured by Niska in "War Stories." For extra brutality, Niska tortures Mal to death,
: The Alliance wears primarily blue and grey to match all their shiny tech. A slur for them is "purple-belly," which refers to the purple-tinged armor seen on the footsoldiers. The Browncoats wear (obviously) brown, red, yellow, and orange, which goes with the Wild West setting. . The black-and-grey uniforms of anyone shown manning an Alliance ship are also pleasantly reminiscent of the crew (not the soldiers) of the , whose uniforms were, themselves, based of those of the Nazis. : Simon, when pressed. Zoe also has some experience with this, as seen briefly in "Safe"; although she has some trouble removing a bullet from Simon's leg at the end of "Objects in Space". : A number of characters — particularly Mal — are willing to fight dirty. The only instance of anyone fighting clean on the show was Mal's duel with Atherton Wing in "Shindig". It started clean but, Atherton being a
and Mal being Mal, did not stay that way. Best exemplified in "The Train Job": Mal: Say that to my face? Bar fly: I said you were a coward... and a pisspot. Now what are you going to do about it? Mal: Nothing. I just wanted you to face me so she could get behind you. Whereupon the bar fly turns, just in time for his jaw to meet Zoe's shotgun butt. : : Mal : Zoe Security Officer: Jayne : Kaylee : Wash : Simon : Inara : Book : "I call it Vera." : Canton, the ceramics workers' town on Higgins' Moon in the episode "Jaynestown", is explicitly called one by Jayne. Magistrate Higgins pays the workers almost nothing so he can get rich, the place is a mess, and the workers are mostly indentured so they can't quit. The RPG rulebook notes, however, that Higgins' son has been working to improve conditions since the episode. It is also implied that not just Canton, but the entire moon that the episode is set on, is owned by Higgins, going by the fact that the moon is named after him, or at least his family. : Starting in the pilot, every time Kaylee has occasion to talk to Mal about the engine, she's likely to bring up the port compression coil.
in "Out of Gas"... and, in a blink-and-you'll-miss-it
that shows up again after it's been fired, Wash finds and chucks a port compression coil in the junkyard in "Ariel." : The planets in the setting are all located within a five-star system, allowing for them to be reached without faster than light travel. note& However, this can be subverted by unscrupulous types trying to stay off the radar, thus why blowing up in "Out of Gas" becomes so dire: There isn't likely to be another ship for days. : "Objects In Space." When River is shown reading the minds of the rest of the crew, their thoughts come in the form of clear sentences. However, in most cases they are non-sequiturs or irrelevant to the current situation or conversation. Except for the thoughts R those actually come in the form of crashing ocean waves and other sensations that cause River to sway and stumble. : It's a . There are dozens of 'em. Special mentions: Mal's gun, which he describes in the comic Better Days as one of the only two things that have stuck with him since the war. The other would be Zoe. The gun is styled after 19th century revolvers, bearing the most resemblance those from Remington, but is an autoloader with the magazine in front of the trigger, much like a Mauser C96. Zoe carries a "Mare's Leg" — a lever-action rifle with a sawed-off barrel and stock — identical to that used by
in . Jayne carries a
revolver — 9-shots of .42 caliber plus one of 16 gauge buckshot — which appears to have an accessory rail mounted above the barrel. He fires it ONCE onscreen. His FAVORITE gun is a
. It's based on the real-world Saiga , and was originally modified for the movie . In "Objects in Space" River picks up a . How she got her hands on it, no-one knows. Several background characters are seen with British Webley or Enfield revolvers. Also seen are an M1 Carbine, several H&K prototypes, almost every bullpup rifle in use by a European military today... ...you get the idea. : Book. One rescues Kaylee from the
in "Shindig." His name, only mentioned in the credits, is Murphy."What a vision you are in your fine dress — it must have taken a dozen slaves a dozen days to get you into that getup. 'Course, your daddy tells me it takes the space of a schoolboy's wink to get you out of it again..."
: Serenity is one of the "" variety. The gigantic flying wrecks of the Reaver ships are also... quite a sight to behold. Nothing says hubris like the Alliance's "flying city block" design. Several of Wash's old ships in the Float Out one-off comic count, as do the
Reaver ship — with other ships welded to it for added coolness — and the shiny new Firefly-class. : Enforced by Reaver territory. : Blue Sun is hinted at being behind the Academy. The fandom's view of Fox actively invokes this, as well. : According to Simon and River's father in "Safe", who therefore refuses to allow a Dedicated Sourcebox in his house. But, his wife already ordered one for Simon, so he might as well give up the fantasy that this is his house. : Both Kaylee and River like to watch. River even participates, .
At the end of the movie, she DOES watch... Kaylee and her brother, which spawned at least two fanfics. : On the surface, the Alliance is a highly advanced democratic civilization. Start digging deeper and you have oppression and abuse perpetrated in the name of . Such abuse includes kidnapping a teenage girl and screwing with her brain to make her into a weapon and
a behavioral modification experiment that results in the unintentional extermination of an entire population and the creation of the Reavers. Throughout the series, we see that life is good if you're rich - but heaven help you if you're on one of the worlds subject to half-assed terraforming, needing a vital medicine that's being withheld to up the profits of the manufacturers, or an indebted slave collecting mud for rich owners. Hell, they don't even get folk heroes swooping down to save them... there ain't people like that. : In the episode "Our Mrs. Reynolds," Mal accidentally gets married because what he thought were general celebrations on some backwater planet actually included a wedding ritual.
Thankfully for Mal's romantic life,
include stealing his ship, and preclude any long-term relationship. Wash: Some people juggle geese! : River, one of the rare heroic examples. : Reavers take people's skins as trophies, cover their spaceships with blood and they tie whole corpses to the front of their ships. : "The Train Job". : River. : Due to its backstory of America and China being the two first superpowers to colonize space, the Verse is a mishmash of Western and Eastern cultures. In "Ariel", Mal says that Book is probably contemplating a rock garden while visiting an abbey. Rock gardens are more characteristic of Eastern religions, especially Zen Buddhism. Mal may have simply been making a joke, but this suggests the Christianity that Book follows has incorporated some elements of Buddhism as well. The
funeral at the end of "Heart of Gold" suggests a Christian/Buddhist fusion, including both a cross and Eastern-style incense bowls. : Inara. : All the swearing that is not done in "Mandarin"(-ish) has an Old West feel to it. Gorramit. : Kaylee and River. : Wash is a completely different character when flying the ship: normally he is loud and panicky, but at the helm, he is completely calm and collected, no matter what imminent doom might be following him. Well, , he got a bit more excitable while flying later on in the series, particularly in "The Message". On the DVD commentary Joss states it was due to the influence of playing an
another cast member gave him. : In "Ariel" an undercover Simon Tam saves a patient from cardiac arrest, then tears the patient's doctor a new one for causing it. The doctor had made the mistake of giving his patient a painkiller that, when combined with a standard prep drug used for the patient's procedure, reacts to form a vasoconstrictor. : Saffron. She's introduced in "Our Mrs. Reynolds" as an innocent girl from a backwater
planet who was sold into marriage with Mal as payment for a job. In reality, she's actually an incredibly skilled con artist with , typically seducing men (, if Inara's any indication) and then stealing from them and leaving them for dead. Both of her appearances show she is plenty capable of kicking ass as well, especially in hand-to-hand combat. : "Jaynestown" ends with a redux of "The Ballad of Jayne Cobb". : Plenty of sneaky references. From "Our Mrs. Reynolds": Mal: It's been a while — a long, damn while — since anybody but me took a hold of my plow... "War Stories" has: Jayne: I'll be in my bunk. And from the movie... Kaylee: Goin' on a year now I ain't had nothin' twixt my nethers weren't run on batteries! /: Badger's "very fine hat". : A deleted scene from the pilot has Simon looking up the origin of the ship's name on a voice-activated tablet. A brief scene from the movie also has Mal looking at what appears to be a video postcard of Inara moving out of her shuttle. Badger's "paper" with the headline of the heist is also one of these. : Mr. Universe's Sex Bot in the movie. : A clever one in "Heart of Gold". Mal: Where's he at now? : Let's just say he ain't
anymore either. : And eyes, ears and fingernails bleed. This is the first indication that the implement held by the Blue Hands is deadly. : Everyone. Yes, even Jayne. Everyone also has at least one moment of , often just as funny. : Shepherd Book. Invoked in the Pilot when Mal rips the authorization code off a fallen comrade and then tells one of his squaddies "You're Lieutenant Baker" so they can order air support. : Nandi in "Heart of Gold".
Hell, Zoe does it a lot. Zoe to Niska in "War Stories". Zoe to Mal in "Shindig". Zoe to Wash... frequently. Mal's glare can probably blow up a Reaver ship. Jayne during the interrogation scene in "Bushwacked".
Simon does not need to look formidable. His eyes are scary enough. From the movie:Simon: This isn't fear, this is anger.Mal: Face like yours, it's hard to tell.Simon: I imagine if it was fear, my eyes would be wider. : The Hands of Blue's . : The episode "Trash" is a notable deconstruction of
(in the person of "YoSaffBridge"), showing how depressing and dehumanizing it can really be to be one, and how psychologically messed up someone would have to be to want to be one. Saff has completely mastered the art of seduction, but at the cost of any chance of ever having a meaningful relationship with another human being. After years of getting ahead through lying and manipulation, she's left a trail of abandoned identities behind her—to the point that even she barely knows who she is anymore—and a long line of men that she abandoned soon after marrying them for profit. At the end of the episode, Mal outright dismantles her whole M.O. in a well-timed , where he points out that people like him will always trump people like her—because unlike her, he has a devoted crew of
that will always have his back. In a pinch, well-earned loyalty always trumps cheap manipulation. : The Reaver ships around Miranda, as well as the ruined ships in the first comic series. : Jayne gets this way about Vera, his favorite gun, in "Our Mrs. Reynolds".Jayne: Six men came the best of 'em carried this. It's a Callahan full-bore auto-lock. Customized trigger, double cartridge thorough gauge... it is my very favorite gun. : Mal crosses this at the battle of Serenity Valley, not even blinking when his comrade is blown away beside him when he realizes that the Independents have lost. River's dialogue indicates that she crossed it at some point during her time at the Academy. The Battle of Serenity Valley is also the moment Mal loses his faith. If you look carefully, you'll notice he's wearing a crucifix during that scene. From that point on, he's openly antagonistic to any display of religion. While never mentioned in-series, it was likely compounded by the fact that during the same timeframe, the Alliance orbitally bombarded Mal's homeworld of Shadow so intensely that it was rendered uninhabitable afterwards.
Mal, who does not let little things like swords in his stomach ("Shindig") or being tortured to death ("War Stories") get in the way. This, combined with his
is why he wins fights with opponents much more skilled and better-equipped. If he's breathing, he is never, ever beaten. And even if he's not breathing. After the aforementioned torturers kill him, they shock him back to life. And then he proceeds to lay a beatdown on them both. The man is practically
to this sequence, describing it as an "Incredible" Discipline skill check. For reference, that's 6/8 possible difficulty levels, and they don't necessarily scale linearly. Simon has more than a little of this in him. Nothing — not even a bullet in the leg ("Objects in Space") — is going to keep him from protecting and caring for his baby sister. : Psychics are informally referred to as "readers". : From "The Train Job":Mal: We're not thieves... but we are thieves. The point is we're not taking what's his. From "Jaynestown":Simon: (to Jayne) You're like a trained ape! Without the training! : The thoroughly evil and worldly Jubal Early is thoroughly creeped out by River giggling while "possessing" Serenity. : River, constantly, as well as Kaylee.
that , they would just have someone hold the
at gunpoint. : From "Safe":River: The human body can be drained of blood in 8.6 seconds given adequate vacuuming systems.Mal: See, morbid and
I don't have a problem with. Long as she does it quiet-like. : When the crew invades a skyplex to rescue
in "War Stories", secondary defense of the ship relies on , ,
. At the time, Book is the only with known combat training. Although Simon does try hard to help, Book ends up having to advise him that he's
and should just go with the shot. In the end, it doesn't help. Simon still can't hit the broad side of a barn.
His sister, on the other hand... . When Kaylee asks how a client is chosen, Inara tries to explain that it's a process of feeling out a client through compatibility of spirit rather than actually thinking logically and carefully about it. Mal doesn't believe a word of it. : The opening scene for the series is a flashback to the Unification War. Mal Reynolds is leading a group that's holding ground against a numerically larger opponent. One of his soldiers, Private Bendis, says they're going to die. Mal tells him reinforcements on on their way and they'll be okay. Instead it's the enemy that gets reinforced and Bendis is killed while standing next to Mal. : Mal's homeworld was "Shadow", a major Browncoat holdout from Unification, which the Alliance orbitally bombarded so much that the whole moon was rendered uninhabitable afterwards. : "The Train Job". : During the episode "Objects in Space", in which Jubal Early is spaced and left to die. Played for comedic value at the end of the episode, where even Jubal recognizes he is performing some excellent . "Well... here I am." In "Bushwhacked", when Serenity encounters a derelict ship and then a dead body smacks into the cockpit windshield, startling Wash (and the audience). : The Reavers. : Saffron. : Simon Tam saves a man's life from his incompetent doctor while breaking into an Alliance hospital to check on his sister's condition. : Saffron and Inara. Inara wins (at least, she recognizes the game). : Mal reacts this way at times. In the pilot episode "Serenity", he reacts to opening Simon's box and seeing River with a dazed stare and simply muttering, "Huh." Happens again in "War Stories" when he meets Inara's guest the Councillor, who is revealed to be a woman and not the male assistant who first entered Serenity. : A girl in the village of the people that kidnap Simon and River. : Some of the outer planets are... backwards in terms of technology and cleanliness. A particular example is Higgin's Moon, where the filthy, impoverished slaves are constantly covered in dirt and mud because they literally are farming mud (or rather, the materials used to make high-quality ceramics).
/ : How the power members are often shot when they're being . : From "Out of Gas". Inara: Mal, you don't have to die alone. Mal: Everybody dies alone. : "Serenity" (pilot episode): "Anyone so much as moves—" *headshot* Bonus points to
for pulling this off against a man holding a hostage without so much as breaking his stride: the unholstering and
happen as casually as breathing.&&&&Tropes E-H& : In the pilot episode Inara is referred to as "the ambassador" by several characters in multiple situations, which Mal explains is because her status as a Companion often helps them gain access to worlds they would normally be barred from. Though they continue to exploit her high society contacts throughout the series, her nickname never appears after the first episode. On a more fundamental level, Wash's character evolved over the series as he progressed from a
when in danger in the first episode to an excitable and loud pilot in "The Message". Also, Book shows some nervousness in the pilot when he's around Inara, although this may be lingering embarrassment on his part that the "Ambassador" nickname led him to believe she was a state official before Mal tells him her real profession. : It says something when this series' ending is one of the more positive ones Joss Whedon wrote. : The . : Although (according to the DVD) a translator worked hard to get Chinese slang correct, and the actors studied recordings, it was still mangled in pronunciation. : In episode "Jaynestown", Jayne explains that he once pulled a heist on Higgins' Moon, but then had to dump the cargo to stay airborne after he got hit by anti-aircraft fire, and the strongbox inadvertently landed in the indentured workers' Company Town causing Jayne to become a local hero. He neglects to mention he pushed his partner Stitch Hessian out first, and Magistrate Higgins sends the vengeful Stitch after him.
: The button in "Out of Gas". Subverted in that it was never actually used. In the Firefly 10th anniversary special "Browncoats Unite", Alan Tudyk recalls sending the button from this episode to Joss Whedon with a note quoting his line (paraphrased): "When your miracle gets here, just push this button to call us back." It turned out that this happened while Joss was fighting for
to get the green light. : Jayne's "cunning" hat (and the letter accompanying it, revealing that he sends money to his family). : While Jayne really doesn't get along with the Tams
to the point he tries to sell them back to the Alliance, even he is visibly shocked to hear the extent to which the Academy screwed with River's brain.
So much so that he tries to get them out as fast as possible, so as to escape the Alliance guards he called. In the movie, he lists out various things that he'll kill a man for, but eating people alive? Where's that get fun? : Mal and Inara are fooling exactly no one. Inara gets away with it a little more than Mal (even her friend Nandi initially doesn't realize Inara has feelings for him, though she does eventually), but Shepherd Book figures it out within a day of being on the ship. : Wash's toys which he is seen playing with in the pilot. Also, in the flashback in 'Safe,' young River (while playing) claims they've been cut off from their platoon because the Independents were using dinosaurs. : Kaylee with the strawberries. Particularly in the unaired pilot version. : Though nearly all of the main characters were gravely injured in one way or another over the course of the series, Kaylee's injury was made, by far, the most personal for the rest of the characters, to the point where Mal was ready to throw Simon out of the airlock. : The only characters with British accents are
Badger and
Atherton Wing, who both appear in the episode "Shindig". And, of course, the Operative in . : In the pilot episode "Serenity" Wash, while playing with toy dinosaurs, proclaims that the Allosaurus has "an evil laugh" when it betrays the Stegosaurus. :
Saffron. : Point of interest, seems 'understand', according to Merriam Webster, means "To grasp the meaning/reasonableness of", whereas 'comprehend' means "to grasp the nature/significance of". Take this into consideration as you rewatch "Objects In Space,"
River was trying to explain to Mal that she understands that guns are bad, but that she wasn't perceiving what she was holding to be a gun at all (the audience could see she thought she was holding a tree branch). : , the comics, online clips and games. : Episode 10, "War Stories". Mal is captured by the elderly and sadistic Niska, is brutally tortured via electric shock, has his ear cut off, and is then killed painfully only to be resuscitated for further torture. When Mal's crew stages a rescue, Mal overcomes the guard and gives Niska a huge beatdown. : Dobson, in Those Left Behind. : River Tam had this happen to her with needles at one point during her time at the Academy, though we only see flashes of this from a nightmare in "The Train Job". Later in "Safe", she rails at Simon during one of her crazy fits that "You can't just stick needles in my eyes and ask me what I see!" "Jaynestown": Jayne's former partner Stitch who was imprisoned in the town lost an eye in the (in)famous incident when Jayne threw him out of their plane. "Jaynestown": When Stitch is looking for Jayne to get his revenge, he finds Simon in the local pub. Simon is not as cooperative as Stitch would like him to be, and threatens that it will cost him his eyeball. With a really big knife in his hand. In the comics,
Book has an eye surgically removed and replaced with a camera before the war. This allows his Independent superiors to
while he infiltrates the Alliance military. In the comics, Dobson from the pilot episode appears again. He did not die and he holds a grudge about our intrepid crew because he lost his eye in his encounter with them. : . River's mimicry of Badger's accent in "Shindig". : According to Joss Whedon the setting was partially inspired by journals of Confederate soldiers on the frontier from , and the Unification War and aftermath has its similarities (Alliance occupation troops in the series' present = Union occupation troops during Reconstruction, for instance). However the comparison isn't perfect, as the Independent Faction started out independent instead of trying to secede and failing. : Alliance ship names are preceded by I.A.V. (possibly Interstellar/Interplanetary Alliance Vessel). : Mal is a Farm Boy, having been raised by his mother and 40 hands on a ranch back on his homeworld, Shadow. He spoke about it only once. : A Joss Whedon mentioned there is no faster than light travel in the Firefly-verse and supplemental materials indicate ships in the verse only get up to about 1/3 of light speed through inertial screening and gravity manipulation. : There's a reason Jubal's threat to
in "Objects in Space" isn't a death threat. : In a deleted scene for "Our Mrs. Reynolds", River tries to convince Shepherd Book to marry her and Simon. : Jubal Early from "Objects in Space". Adelai Niska, as seen in his introduction in "The Train Job".Niska: You do not like I kill this man?Mal: No, I'm sure he was a... very bad person.Niska: My wife's nephew. (waves dismissively) At dinner I am getting earful. : River and Simon in "Ariel". Tracy in "The Message". In fact, he was put under by the same drug as the Tam siblings. : In "Heart of Gold":Jayne: Don't know these folks, don't much care to.Mal: They're whores.Jayne: I'm in. : River. : There are a few Feudal Lords (barons, dukes, etc.) on different planets in Firefly. In "Shindig", Mal goes to a party full of aristocrats and winds up fighting one of them in an old-fashioned sword duel. "Jaynestown" features a moon ruled by (and named after) an aristocrat. : , by Michelle Dockrey, incorporates the series theme song as the chorus. : In the Serenity RPG, the name of the complication is "Things Don't go Smooth", taken from a line in "Safe". The description is basically this trope. As should be obvious, Mal canonically has the Major version of this complication listed on his character sheet. Mal: It never goes smooth. Why don't it ever go smooth? : Mal and Zoe, to a
level. We don't see the exa rather, the war they were in together seems to have been a protracted forging process. In the pilot episode Mal and Simon start off as rivals because of the clash of their respective
instincts. At the end of the Pilot they learn t Mal can think of many unkind things to say about Simon, but he recognizes he ain't weak. In "Trash", Saffron observes that Mal and Monty may have this in their past. : "Out of Gas". : Simon is nervous and uncomfortable and damned near useless most of the time, so it is surprising when he has a complete personality flip and is suddenly the person with all the knowledge and confidence whenever there is a medical emergency. "Ariel" is pretty much one prolonged
for him because of this. : The estates on Bellerophon, seen in "Trash". : The two most dangerous crew members of Serenity are named
and . : In "Safe", Simon does this to three men while trying to protect River from being burned at the stake. He ultimately fails to save River, but it's still an
attempt. : The ration bars from the "Serenity" pilot episode. : The five suns of the verse have both English and Chinese names: Blue Sun/Qing Long, Red Sun/Zhu Qe, White Sun/Bai Hu, Georgia/Huang Long and Kalidasa/Xuan Wu. : The Mangled Mandarin swearing. : In the pilot:Mal: How come you didn't turn on me, Jayne?Jayne: Money wasn't good enough.Mal: What happens when it is?Jayne: Well, that'll be an interestin' day. A very subtle one in "Our Mrs. Reynolds": the music that plays while Mal is unknowingly getting married follows the famous chord structure of Pachelbel's Canon, a very popular wedding song. Kaylee mentions in the first episode that they need a new compression coil, or else the ship will not work. Unfortunately, Mal does not listen and that is exactly what causes the problem in "Out of Gas". A good one in "Trash" when Simon confronts Jayne about his betrayal on Ariel. After Simon leaves, River, in a seemingly funny and
statement, says "Also, I can kill you with my brain". The significance of this statement is revealed in "Objects in Space" where River's intelligence, creativity and strategising comes together to defeat Jubal in a giant . A major example when the crew encounters Reavers in the pilot, which becomes important in the movie when they need some 'backup' against the Alliance fleet: Mal: If we run, they have to chase us. It's their way. The first thing we see of Wash is him playing with toy dinosaurs, acting out a scenario where one suddenly but inevitably betrays the other, who responds by cursing him and trying to kill him. Later on, Jayne betrays Simon and River, and by extension Mal. Mal nearly kills him over it. : Book.
He eventually became a preacher, but he started out as a petty teenage criminal then became a spy during the war.
: Jayne : Mal : Zoe : Mal dislikes Simon, pretty much from the get-go because of the heat he brings down on the ship, and because he lied about his fugitive status until he was already on board. However, by the time things really get bad, Simon has agreed to be the ship's doctor, making him an official part of the crew. Mal and company help keep Simon and River hidden from the Alliance until the coast is clear, leading Simon to wonder out loud why Mal would help him if he doesn't even like him. Mal's answer is simply, "You're on my crew." This attitude is present in pretty much everyone on the ship (except maybe Jayne...) to the point where they more resemble a family than a crew on a ship, and frequently risk their own safety for each other when necessary. : Both Mal and Zoe were soldiers for the Independents who have since turned to being somewhat minor criminals. Their past as soldiers does come in handy during confrontations and fights, however, as they and the crew often overcome better armed foes who have numbers on their side. : In "The Train Job", River comments on Mal's name, saying: "Mal. Bad. In the Latin." : Tracey in "The Message". He's unaware at the time, but after:Tracey: Sarge?Mal: What?Tracey: I think I'm nekkid. : Mal to Atherton Wing in "Shindig". : In "Jaynestown", Book lets his hair out once. Once. Could also be considered a Scary Afro. And not just if you happen to be named River. Even
is freaked out for a moment. : Jayne has loads of them. : The processed protein which the crew largely subsists on fits this trope. Averted by Shepherd, who gives the crew strawberries, tomatoes and other fresh food when he first boards Serenity. : Many of the characters curse in Chinese, the explanation being that China was one of the biggest contributors to the colonization of the galaxy, and therefore many people speak at least a little bit of the language because of that influence. Also serves in , since most American viewers wouldn't know just how profane the characters were being. : Kaylee experiences some harassment at an upper-class party from a quartet of female attendees in "Shindig". : Kaylee in "Shindig", managing to woo several gentlemen with her tech savvy. Kaylee's introduction in "Out of Gas", which reveals that engines make her hot. Simon in "Jaynestown", while in an advanced state of inebriation, reveals that he finds Kaylee especially pretty when she's covered in engine grease. : Because "The Hero of Canton, the man they call Fred" just would not have the same zing. River comments on this in "Trash":Jayne: Well, as a rule, I say girl-folk ain't to be trusted. River: Jayne is a girl's name.
Jayne: Well, Jayne ain't a girl! If she starts in on that girl's name thing, I'll show her good and all I got man parts. (shoves his hand in his pants for emphasis) Simon: I'm trying to think of a way for you to be cruder. I just... It's not coming. : "Union of Allied Planets" often shortened to just "The Alliance". Unproduced scripts actually named it the "Anglo-Sino Alliance," reflecting its nature as a merger between the United States and China prior to the final abandonment of , but this never made it into the final production. : Simon. From a flashback in "Safe": Simon: I'm sorry, Dad. I would never have tried to save River's life if I had known there was a dinner party at risk. Also, the elderly gentleman who rescued Kaylee from the
in "Shindig". Gentleman: 'Why, Banning Miller! What a vision you are in your fine dress. It must have taken a dozen slaves a dozen days just to get you into that get-up. 'Course, your daddy tells me it takes the space of a school-boy's wink to get you out of it again.' : To
and , . : Atherton and the spectators after Mal wins the duel in "Shindig". : "Bushwhacked". : River, which is often mistaken by many to be a
to , though Whedon . Specifically called "a girl in a box" in one of the trailers. : Five words: "I'll be in my bunk." Inara and the ambassador turned Jayne on. Mal (incorrectly) guesses that Inara kissed Saffron in "Our Mrs. Reynolds", which knocked her out, as did Mal, by way of a poisoned kiss. He giddily grins at Inara's "affirmation" and walks off, leaving behind a very confused and very annoyed Inara.
: Near the beginning of the episode "The Message". : It's not remarked upon in the series, but in the comic miniseries Better Days, it's mentioned that the sunglasses Simon is wearing in the pilot hide his eyes from retina scanners. : Jayne learns this due to his
in Canton. However, it doesn't end well. : In the episode "Trash," Saffron assumes Mal is an idiot because he is being kind and compassionate to her. Then she walks headlong into his
when it turns out he expected her sudden but inevitable betrayal, and Inara beats her to the drop point. : Mal and most of the rest of the crew of Serenity are generally altruistic. That does not make them nice guys, however, as fellows like Crow ("The Train Job") and Atherton Wing ("Shindig") would attest. Mal: Mercy is the mark of a great man. [stabs Atherton] Guess I'm just a good man. [stabs Atherton again] Well, I'm alright. : In "The Train Job", the juxtaposition between Mal and Crow is really good at demonstrating the page quote for good an evil men. Crow gloats, and Mal just says 'Darn.'
Mal then kicks Crow into Serenity's engine air intake. : Subverted, in that every time Mal goes up against a competent enemy, he loses. Except the swordfight in "Shindig", but he was not using fisticuffs, he was using . Said swordfight was also a match he lost, at first. : From "Shindig":Wash: I like our party better. The dress code is easier, and I know all the steps!Zoe: [contented sigh] I'd say you do at that. : Who will shoot you in the kneecaps and chop off your killer robots' heads with a giant curved machete. : Alliance. : Hands of Blue —
a private sector conspiracy by Blue Sun, but with definite government involvement. : The Mandarin-ish phrases scattered through the dialogue, often as . Doubles as a . As the DVD set shows, they used actual Mandarin phrases, and some of them are absolutely hilarious in English. : The Unification War, except for the final battle and a few flashbacks. : In "War Stories", Wash and Zoe are having a lover's spat, as Wash is very suspicious of Mal always, always bringing Zoe along on missions and laughing it up with old war stories. He finally demands that he go so that Zoe is away from Mal, and so he can do something fun and exciting, and as the mission drags on, accuses Mal of being in love with Zoe. The mission nearly gets them both killed, traumatizes Wash, and
Mal actually invokes it to keep Wash alive and focused during the torture. Atherton, towards... well, anyone near Inara. : "Out of Gas". : Zoe and Jayne in "War Stories". : Repeatedly. : Serenity doesn't have any guns. Although on one occasion ("Safe"), she did have a
hanging out of her. At the beginning of "The Train Job" Wash helps Mal, Zoe and Jayne escape from a bar brawl by threatening to start shooting. When everyone is onboard he laughs. "Transport ships don't have guns." Wash: (sp}