@@phtevenj Funny thing is, Whedon didn’t like the idea of Mal having a crisis of conscience this early in the series, and he was toying with the idea of having Mal actually keep the medicine, but it was thought (correctly) by some that it would make him too much of an unsympathetic character, so they (thankfully) went with what we got.
Nathan Fillion (Mal), tells a story from the days when they were shooting this show. The cast showed up one day, and Ron Glass, (Book), was wearing a beautiful sweater. Fillion complimented Glass on how much he liked the sweater. Without a second's hesitation, Glass removed the sweater, folded it neatly, and gave it to Fillion as a gift. Ron Glass was truly a class act.
Browncoats are super protective of the show. Please don't take offense at some of the salty and know-it-all comments. Enjoy the show! Your genuine reactions are great.
The stuff that River says usually means something, though often times it's like a riddle or something metaphorical, so you don't get it until something happens and it clicks.
Yes, the dialogue is amazing. That’s why commentators fuss at people for talking over it. Not because we don’t know it - most of us could quote much of it from memory at this point - only because you will miss something important (or hilarious). At the same time, I really enjoy people processing what they see and hear, so just balance it out. This one was really good. On another note, I think the sheriff was a Browncoat. Mal and River. It’s my theory that he feels the need to protect her because of who is after her. If he can thwart The Alliance in any way, he will.
Yea I am finding the balance! Hopefully this episode was an improvement. Thanks for the compliment! Sheriff being a Browncoat would not be a surprise to me. I had two reasons that I explained as to why I don' t think Mal is interesting in turning River in. But you made a good and obvious third one. Why would he EVER give the Alliance what they want?
Oh totally. Was waiting for him to come in. Too much alpha and testosterone there. One of my favorite lines of this episode is his "they're not as cuddly as me" line hahahahaha!
My feeling is that Mal, spirit-shattered after his experiences in the war, tends to surround himself aboard Serenity with people that each represent to him some broken part of himself. His efforts to keep them together and keep them safe are reflective of his inner struggle to heal.
I absolutely love how, after Mal kicked Crow and sent him through the engine, Mal turns around and you can see the discomfort cross his face. He REALLY wishes he hadn't had to do that He's a practical man, and he did it because he had to, but he very much would rather not do things like that. It's a brilliant moment of acting, IMO.
You tell a man like Mal you'll spend your life trying to kill him, while in a position to be killed... your fault if you're too convincing to leave alive.
@@irishlatinoreacts1842 I had an appointment for annual bloodwork the other day and the phlebotomist was wearing those blue gloves. I told her that because of an old show I loved, her gloves creeped me out. She’d never heard of Firefly and was going to look for it to watch. Hopefully, it created another Browncoat.
@@irishlatinoreacts1842 it’s not revealed in the show, but there’s more to those hands. It’s in the comics. I can tell you but it does count as kind of a minor spoiler for the relevant comic.
So Serenity is a "Firefly" class ship. If you look at it it is the shape of a firefly bug with a glowing but where the engine is. Much love and keep on keepin on J.
If you want to know how passionate Firefly fans are you just need to look at your numbers. The first episode you posted is only five days old and already has more than twice the views of your next most popular video which is six months old. Welcome to the Browncoats!
Thanks for bringing me so much support for this channel. No one needs to thank me. I thank everyone who watches and comments on my stupid dumb TH-cam videos. Thank you so very much!
@@irishlatinoreacts1842 I only just ran across your channel, and definitely like your style. I have some excellent recommendations for scifi if you’d like.
The reference to "Mal" being bad was a play on words, with "Mal" being the latin root of words like malpractice or malfeasance. River sees that Mal is not actually a bad guy, even though he does engage in less than legal activities, and tries to project a cavalier attitude towards the Tams's plight, and she's illustrating how calling him Mal--even though that's technically his name--is at odds with his obvious character. It's a beautiful moment of realization for her, even though it comes off to the rest of us as accusatory on her part.
Oh that is an interesting way to look at that moment. If this is true, this is obviously nothing that a first time viewer could have gleamed. I'll keep an eye out for this! Thanks for the comment!
As a new BrownCoat, you should know the story behind Firefly's cancellation. This show was Dead-On-Arrival. The executive at fox who green lit the show was a woman who'd worked with Joss before and wanted another project from him. Shortly after she signed the check and told him to start production she left fox to take a higher paying, more responsible position at another studio (Paramount I believe ). We're talking a few days to at most 2-3 weeks here. The person who filled her empty chair had another show he was shepherding through the acceptance process, so he did the political move of canceling his predecessor's show. The show he eventually replaced it with was a reality tv show that only lasted 4 months. That's right! The decision to cancel the show was made while Joss was still hiring actors, scouting locations, and polishing scripts. Early in preproduction. The reason we got 14 episodes was a contract had been signed for half a season. The sh%thead at fox did everything he could to reck the show. Ratings never had anything to do with it. They knew the show was number 1 on TIVO, but advertisers ignored that because it was so easy to skip/block commercials. Also, in test marketing the show tested higher with women than men ( ironic these days ) and the fox executives didn't know what to make of that. Of all the words in the english language, the saddest three have to be " Might Have Been " . 😢
@@Aeroldoth3 The exec that filled the empty chair was still there until the disney merger, as far as I know. As for the reality show, I don't know the name. I'd given up on fox by then.
You know there are a lot of reactors out there in the TH-cam 'verse. I've watched multiple ones react to shows/movies/songs I really enjoy. I've seen dozens react to Firefly and I want you to know that I am delighted to have stumbled across your reactions to it. I am enjoying how you work yourself through the reaction. I'm finding an affinity for your delivery. I might have to watch you react to others. I am especially appreciative of how you have picked up on the more compassionate aspects of dialog. Don't see that a lot in reactions because people tend to react to action. Thank you for that. Obviously, you're a SciFy fan, but I have a different series I'm going to recommend to you down the road that is very kind and compassionate that I get the strong sense you'll truly be thankful for watching, even though it's not SciFy. Happy to have found you.
This comment actually made me tear up. Thank you so so much. This community is so beautiful and it is people like you who keep me going. So glad you are here my friend. I am also acutely aware of you holding back your recommendation because (obviously) I have my hands full with Firefly right now and recommendations of other shows may get lost in the ether. But please please please hold onto it. I know that you will know the right time to recommend it. I am a fan of so much more than Sci-fi. But at least for now, it is the sci-fi community that has welcomed me with open arms.
@@irishlatinoreacts1842 I'm here and not going anywhere, We small vloggers need to support one another, and you are the kind of person I want to support.
@@RandyPeterson Most shows can be watched at 1.5x speed without missing anything. Even Netflix gives the option to watch things faster. Give it a shot.
A friend of mine bought me that generic-looking hat with the Serenity ship on the front and I thought to myself; "This is NOT the hat that I wanted". haha
@@ImaCOTV A lot of reactors seem to miss the hands of blue thing. It seems glaringly obvious to me, but then I know I've missed some pretty blatant stuff in shows too, and the number of people who miss it would seem to point to some kind of mental habit. Maybe, in order to focus on dialogue, plot and so forth, people are filtering out seemingly extraneous information, like what people are wearing on their hands?
Can't Stop the Serenity. Because I watched your Episode 1 reaction, I watched this one to see your reaction to the Browncoats who responded to some of the things you said. I've heard of the Expanse and think I saw the first episode but it's one series I haven't gotten into. But I've now subscribed to your channel because I like how you did with the criticism and how open you are to learning, I'll dig out my brown coat and one of my t-shirts to wear next week. Keep 'em coming.
Thanks Shirley for the subscriptions! Definitely check out my Expanse reactions if you don't want to commit to watching every second of every episode (though that is worth it too!)
Second note: Jane Espenson was writing episodes fir Furefly, Buffy and Angel at this point. She was a writer on Battlestar from 2006-2010 and co-showrunner of Caprica which was a BG prequel show.
Don't know if anyone has mentioned this yet but the use of Mandrin in the show was an effort to circumvent the network censors, so if you hear Chinese they're most likely swearing up a storm (tried to get my SIL to translate but she got embarrassed listening to it, don't know why she's married to my brother nothing she hasn't heard!! lmao) ! 🤣 ETA forgot to say, the in show explanation for the mix of languages is that the Americans and the Chinese would have been the two biggies when it came to leaving earth and in the intervening centuries they two cultures would've mixed which is why you can hear the eastern instruments playing western music and the decor has a mix of influences too.
I have the script book, which includes translations of the Mandarin. Most of it is pretty elaborate and silly, but even those parts are often meant to stand in for swearing. I like that you don’t have to understand what they are saying in order to get the gist. But they are fun little Easter eggs. Apparently their pronunciation is awful!
Sheriff: "A man can get a job, he might not look too close what that job is. But when a man learns all the details of a situation like ours, well, then he has a choice." Mal: "I don't believe he does." And that was another instance of testing someone's metal (like Mal's "dick move" comment to Simon in the first episode) and the person's reply tells you what you need to know and how you're going to proceed with them. As for River overhearing what Jayne said, keep in mind that River is pretty confused and though she overhears a lot, she doesn't really share it. It just stays in her head. I also thought you'd catch on to, or comment about, River saying "two by two, hands of blue" and the last scene where two appeared looking for her, with hands of blue. Maybe you made the connection but just didn't comment.
As for the hands of blue, I said in the reaction that I thought it meant hands of a corpse. I did not catch their hands having blue gloves. But many commenters have turned me onto that fact. The Mal lines are amazing. This show has amazing dialogue.
36:03 PILOT EPISODE, INTRODUCTIONS AND RELEASE ORDER - The original series run did noy have those introductions. They were not in the purchase DVD or Blu-Ray either (I upgraded LOL). They were added on later. Episode 1 Serenity was the original pilot episode but the network thought it was too dark and requested a lightening in tone, but you can see the repeated set up and dialogue. So The Train Job became "the pilot episode" and was shown first.
I agree about the exposition intro - maybe a bit odd if you’re not expecting it, but kinda nice honestly. Sets the tone, even if you’re watching this as a second and not a pilot episode. This episode as a whole sets the tone really well in a lot of ways. Ya got a group of criminals, but not a group of bad people. Very good analysis of why turning in the siblings probably wouldn’t be a good idea. I think you’ve got the character of the Alliance pretty spot on.
Hey dude, the "dumb" takes are just how you see what you're watching; we all take something different from it. It's the multiple/continuous repeat viewings that cement all the relevant facts in your head.
@@jeffthompson9622 Gregg Henry (the Sheriff) was also in Guardians of the Galaxy as well. Of note, The Guardians creator (now CEO of DC) James Gunn is a good friend of Nathan Fillion.
Adam Baldwin is not a brother of Alec, Stephen, and William. He has been in a number of other science fiction projects, including "Independence Day" and "Predator 2." He was in science fiction shows "Chuck" and "The Last Ship." He was in quite a few other films, like "My Bodyguard" and "The Patriot."
Chuck was pretty good, although somehow 5 seasons of it did not change Adam's calling card from “Jayne ...” to “John Casey” (leaving ellipsis here, since Jayne's last name wasn't yet revealed - although it's not something important).
@@irishlatinoreacts1842 The 1st thing that I saw Adam Baldwin in was the 1987 film "Full Metal Jacket". Full Metal Jacket was nominated for 11 awards between 1987 and 1989, including an Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay, two BAFTA Awards for Best Sound and Best Special Effects, and a Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actor for Ermey. The movie won 8 awards and was nominated for 15 in total. source: wikipedia ❤🧡💛💚💙💜
It wasn't just that this episode aired first. This episode was written as a replacement pilot. Basically they shot the pilot and gave it to the executives at Fox, and the executives didn't like it. There were different reasons for that (in reality, the executives just didn't want the show to run because there was a change in leadership after the show was green lit), but one of the cited reasons was a relative lack of action in the pilot (I believe the opening scene with the war wasn't originally in the pilot they shot). So Joss Whedon and the writers wrote The Train Job in a weekend a Joss's house. The exposition at the very beginning wasn't even part of it originally. A later release (maybe the DVD release? Can't remember) added that bit of exposition to most episodes, not just this one. So they wrote the episode to give you a quick and dirty introduction to who everyone is without the more thorough introduction in the pilot. We're introduced to Mal, Zoe, and Jayne as fighters. The first shot of Kaylee is coming from underneath a panel in a mechanics' get up. Wash is in the pilot seat. Simon's in the infirmary and River's introduced with a flashback to the Academy. It's all quick and dirty introductions to make room for the action that the execs said they wanted
@irishlatinoreacts1842 there's lots of merch out there. I have a set of Mal's military dogtags, all 5 action figures, a few different models of Serenity, and some other things that would amount to minor spoilers if I mentioned them, this early in your journey.
@@irishlatinoreacts1842 On a related note, if you watch Nathan's next show, Castle, in season 2 he wears the full-on Malcolm Reynolds costume for Halloween. When his daughter asks him what he's supposed to be, he replies, "Space cowboy." Her reply ends with, "Didn't you wear that 5 years ago?" It was, of course, 2009, five years post-Serenity the movie.
Re the sheriff being a standup guy, there’s a scene at the station where he lights a cigarette, takes like 2 drags, then gives it to someone in his jail cell. Just a small gesture in the middle of an expository monologue, but it’s the same humanizing narrative we see when he understands Mal’s “job.”
There is an interactive map of the Firefly solar system on the Serenity movie DVD. River isn't really influenced much by what she hears others say. Her interface with reality is tenuous and a future episode will show you just how she sees things that are occurring around her. For now, let's just say that she is VERY aware of what is going on around her......and a lot more. She doesn't see reality like everyone else does and gets easily confused as to what's real and what's not. That's probably telling you too much already. Underneath it all she's just a 16 year old teenage girl. You were pretty sharp to catch that Kaylee told Mal twice that the compression coil needs replacing, but you seem to have missed the 2 men with blue gloves on at the end. Firefly didn't really become popular until a year after the series ended when the DVDs came out. The episodes on the DVDs were in the correct order and all 14 episodes were on the DVDs, not just the 11 that aired on tv. Two years later the Movie Serentity came out. It wrapped up a couple of the storylines and left about a dozen storylines unfinished. A lot of information about where the storylines were suppose to go came from Joss Whedon during the Firefly Comicons and reunions. Information about what was suppose to happen gives away a lot of spoilers as to what is going on in the backround of the series, even though it's not canon. There is a hard-bound comic book that was written after the series was cancelled about Shepherd Book's entire life. I have it. It's called "A Shepherd's Tale" and, to my knowledge, is the only canon about the backround of the characters that wasn't shown in the series or the movie. As Shepherd Book will say in the future, "I wasn't born a Shepherd".
In the first reaction I mentioned that there is a Firefly ship in a BSG episode. I forgot to mention that you can sometimes see a small Han Solo in Carbonite figurine in the background on the wall of Serenity. It's fun to look for when rewatching.
Oh, you misunderstood our "warning" about heavy recap. We didn't mean the 30 seconds in the beginning, we meant the scenes on the ship where Mal walks around and talks to everyone. Did you happen so see what those "Higher ups" at the end were wearing on their hands? did it seem familiar to something that had been said earlier in the episode?
Yes, all the conversations between characters early in the episode spell out the other characters situations and why and how long they have been on the ship etc, in a way which is slightly redundant if you've just watched the proper pilot episode, but goes some way to introducing the characters if this is treated as the pilot.
Hey, my man, MUCH improved over the last one. You listened and it shows. BTW, I believe the captions are off/wrong a bit ... I'm fairly certain (like 100%), from many, MANY viewings, on my own and through tons of reactions (yeah, one of my favorites) ... the word they are using is "Shiny", not "Shining", and Gina Torres' character name is ZOE, but it's pronounced Zo-ey (like Joey). Just don't want people calling you on it. Also, the captions keep saying "Gorr", but the word they are saying is "Gorram" (i.e. God Damn). The use of "close" words was to allow them to cuss like normal people and still get by the censors. It's also the reason for the use of Chinese ... when they are talking in Chinese, they are almost certainly cussing/cursing. Finally, I think you missed the significance of the two "agents" at the end who came in "two by two, hands of blue". Don't worry, most people do.
Hey thanks man! Appreciate the compliment! I watched it again and Zoey does definitely sound like she says shining, but that still could be a trick of the ears. Yea they are getting away with a lot of swear words through Chinese huh?
@@irishlatinoreacts1842 I can't speak to that one particular time, without going back and carefully listening to it, but I've only ever heard "shiny" and that fits with all the other times people say "shiny".
@@irishlatinoreacts1842 Yeah, for sure ... and I'm sure I responded to this earlier, but as I've seen happen a half a dozen times in the past, they magically disappeared. It got so bad for a while, I was copying my comments into a notepad so I could put them back in when they got "disappeared". Anyway, I extracted the subtitles for this and the 1st episode (Serenity) ... just to be sure and, though they say, "shiny" 4 times in that 1st one, the ONLY occurrence in this episode, they show as "shining", so I would bet that Gina Torres (Zoe, i.e. "Zoey") just flubbed the line and they mimicked it in the subtitles. However, in both episodes, they say "gorram" many times, but your subtitles kept showing "garr". It's really not important, but I didn't want you to get blasted for it. So, you were right, but it was pretty much a fluke, which is why I assumed (never do that) you had gotten it wrong. I should've checked to be sure but, in the future, you WILL see them say "shiny", not "shining".
Ep 1. Thinking Jayne gave the Fed the cutting device was an intentional misdirect. How he git it is unclear. Mal telling Simon that Kaylee was dead was just Mal messing with him. Mal was mad that Simon made Mal a fugitive, but since Simon did a good job, Mal simply messed with his head to get a laugh out of it. I don't see anything deeper. As far as the reverence for Firefly, you hear it most when people talk about "Brilliant but Canceled" shows. It often tops both fan and critic polls. This was written over a weekend as a new pilot when FOX refused to air the actual pilot. It aired last (not including three episodes that aired on SyFy much later. Adam Baldwin isn't a Balwin brother. River is supposed to be a teen, but the youngest actor is Jewel (Kaylee) who was 20. Yet, she has had a longer career than anyone but the significantly older Adam Baldwin and Ron Glass (Book). Summer and Morena were slightly older (21/22). One of the few shows that I highly recommend reacting to the gag reel afterwards. This episode. I don't think it is an accident r coincidence that Mal usually ends up in an Alliance friendly bar on U-Dsy. The Fed soldiers are wearing the iminiforms from Starship Troopers to save money. The design of Serenity is after a Firefly. Each level of the ship are complete connected sets so a character can walk from one end to the other without cuts. Shiny = good.
You are correct in pointing out that the series is episodic; most of the macro story arc has to do with character and relationships instead of plot line. Great react; keep’em coming!
I wasn't 100% onboard with the series until this ep, when Mal says 'Darn' in his conversation with Crow at the end, then i nearly fell out of my chair laughing.
To be fair, I've seen other people talk about how the pilot seemed kind long and/or slow, and express the fact that the show kept getting better episode after episode when they'd only finished episode 3, 4 or maybe 5. I disagree with that. If the show has a rut (comparatively speaking), I think those episodes are it, and "Serenity" is easily the best of the early episodes. But maybe there was actually something to what the Fox execs were saying. Their alternative, however, was hardly an improvement. (Start with episode 2, without nearly as much setup, show episodes out of order, then release the pilot episode last? What kind of sense does that make?) I also think that some people just took a while to really get into the characters, so that whatever episode came 2nd, 3rd, 4th or 5th would've had an advantage over the one(s) that came before.
Was that Mal testing Simon in the first episode when he said Kaylee was dead? Idk, this is the first time I’ve ever heard that explanation. Doesn’t seem impossible to me, and I kinda like it, but if anyone tells you that’s 100% for sure no question what he was doing, I’d take that with a grain of salt. 😅 The way he was laughing with the crew and calling himself a “bad man” speaks to me more like he was having a laugh at Simon’s expense and didn’t feel too bad about it given the trouble Simon’s already brought all of them. Either way, having fun with these videos so far and hope you do too! Those tinted reactions keep making me laugh. 😊
We don't know if Jayne helped Dobson escape or not. He wouldn't have wanted Dobson to be free while Mal was on the ship because Jayne had no way of knowing how it would turn out, but by giving him a means of escape, he would have had plausible deniability. Jayne probably didn't take his offer because he probably didn't think he could control this situation, but it is possible that he was thinking about it for a bit while he had the sniper rifle trained on Mal. I don't think we're supposed to know what Jayne did or was thinking. It was written in a way to leave it ambiguous.
I think future episodes weigh in on this matter, and I have opinions based on that, but it's not something I can discuss without spoilers. What I will say is that Mal being in the sights could just be a misdirect (with the in-universe explanation just being that Jane is just seeing what's going on, as if he's looking through binoculars).
When Mal said Kaylee was dead, yes it was a dick move and it's hilarious. When everyone was on the bridge and laughing, in that moment I knew I would love this show and the series did not disappoint. Mal absolutely loved fucking with Simon in that moment (as much as the writers did with the audience). As you watch the show, speculate, theorize and voice your opinions. We want to hear❣ A lot of times with Whedon shows there's no right or wrong answer. They are meant spark philosophical conversations. And yeah, lovers of the show will have their own opinions, but that doesn't mean yours isn't valid. Don't hold back. :D
"Two by two...hands of blue..." 😉 The Train Job was written over a long weekend. They worked in some character introduction moments, but the studio wanted more action and that's what they got. At the very end, after the show was basically cancel, is when they showed the original double length pilot. 🤦♂️🤦♂️🤦♂️🤷♂️ Regarding the sheriff - his coat had kind of a brownish color too... My guess is he also fought on the side of the Independents. As of my viewing, 996 subscribers! On the threshold of 1k!
Joss Whedon and Tim Minear were called into a meeting with the Fox executives, and they suspected that the studio disliked the original pilot, and wanted a new one. “Hey, I bet we could write one in a weekend.” Fox said “We need a new pilot script. Have it done by Monday.” To which Joss and Tim said “What?! In only a weekend? Impossible!” Then they did it.
@@irishlatinoreacts1842 this whole series is a crazy hot mess, and by the end you will be a Browncoat forever, cursing the fools that screwed it up and quite possibly rewatching it, either alone or on other folks' reactions... :)
Enjoyed your 1st two Firefly reactions. Your doing great, this show is fun and whitty but not incredibly complex. I'm sure gonna cruise right though and be sad like the rest of us it's over so soon. Everything's Shinny 😊
Don't worry about "nitpik" comments too much. Most are about things that you will derive on your own. The "not watching recaps" one is worthwhile because the recaps tend to spoil what is about to happen in the episode a bit by saying "Hey, remember this thing that happened on a previous episode? It's about to pay off now." I surmise that you will remember what happened on previous episodes without a reminder.
Great reaction, really enjoying your work. Also, Adam Baldwin is the Baldwin that's not in the brotherhood. The Baldwins are Alec, Billy, Stephen, and Daniel.
Nice apology. You still need better friends. :P Browncoats are usually a better grade of people. The brawl with the holographic window was amazing bait, and then the "Darn" set the hook. Been flopping on the dock every since. Adam Baldwin is the Baldwin who isn't a Baldwin brother; he's the non-douchey one. Pay attention to everything River says, her madness only seems mad because she's written as an oracle. Also, excellent of you to notice the compression coil; I'll say no more. That which is shiny was once cool on Earth-That-Was.
I'm not sure if anyone stated this yet, but this was actually the first aired pilot. Fox actually initially turned down the original pilot "Serenity" saying it was too long and not "action packed" enough. So they gave him and his writers the weekend to write this episode. The original pilot was later aired after it was canceled as a tv special and series finale.
Some people have a hard time looking past their own authority. The sheriff could easily have justified seeing them as "breaking the law" as opposed to him "upholding the law"
Love your reaction so far - welcome new Browncoat recruit. Since you are referring to BSG : There's (very small) Firefly easter egg hidden in the mini series.
The lore dump at the beginning wasn't the 2nd pilot stuff that I was talking about. There was just a lot of subtle rehashing of some things from the first unaired episode - who are the "passengers" and why are they there (re: Book, Simon, River), what is the relationship between our crew and the alliance, what kind of work do they do, small takes into each of their characters so we know who they are without seeing Serenity. They did a good job masking it all as character development or character cementing maybe, but whatever. I don't think it works well as a stand alone pilot. Luckily that's not the case here. :) The dialog is good, and the show is pretty unique if you look at when it was released. There was very little mainstream dark sci-fi out there at the time, so it's good stuff. It may be a little dated now and not so unique, but the best parts of the show and what makes it super great and such heartache to us are coming. Stay tuned.
I have to take very minor issue with the commenter who postulated Mal "testing" Simon in the first episode. I mean, MAYBE he was, certainly a (remote) possibility. But, if you couple the "test" with the laughter from the rest of the crew right after Simon finding out Kaylee was okay and Mal saying amid the laughter "I am a bad, bad man"; frankly Mal was messing with Simon just to mess with him, and (spoiler alert) won't be the last time. I will say (although I'm sure you've probably been inundated with the same observation from other commenters), despite the lunatic gibberish it may seem to be, ALWAYS pay attention to what River says. "Two by two, hands of blue". Rewatch the last ten minutes of the episode. Final comment on a personal note: Irish on top, Latino on the bottom? Where does the American mid-west accent come from (inquires the guy from Ohio).
You can see that Hollywood recycles props. The Alliance solders helmets are from Starship Troopers. I know the ships (& shuttles) schematics by heart. Mostly because ther is a Role Playing Game based off Pathfinder call Serenity. Can't wait until you get to the Best episode, I guarantee you'll think also. Until then; Keep Fly'n!
Likely a sortof unofficial hazing/initiation ritual to "welcome" him into the crew (family). Military and other overmasculine types tend to do that sort of thing, I gather.
@@irishlatinoreacts1842, sometimes -- for a fan -- your heroes can do no wrong. Mal has an honorable side, but he can also be a dick. After his prank against Simon, nobody was all that surprised when he later in the episode shot a horse, or put a bullet in the Alliance guy despite River being in danger.
Never thought Mal was testing the Doc there. It always felt like an affective prank because he was angry about the situation the Doc put him in. He even jokingly admits he's a bad man to the core crew. That testing interpretation seems to be made up by ultra fans of Mal to justify this morally questionable action. Same with him cold-blooded executing Crow in the current episode. Saying he totally regrets this just doesn't hold up IMHO. I think Mal anticipated Crow would become a problem and he had to use him to make a cruel example. I took his expression more in the meaning 'Darn, I knew it' instead of 'Darn, I'm so disgusted I have to do this'.
I saw this episode when it first aired, and I didn't finish the season. Later, I watched in the intended order and loved it. I hope the studio exec responsible for that is cleaning toilets somewhere. Adam isn't related to Alec. I think Mal was mainly having fun with Simon regarding Kaylee's death. Remember that the Fed from ep1 told Jayne he'd get enough to buy his own ship as a reward. I think Jayne's greed is overwhelming his sense.
Yea once again if this was the first episode ever, I would've liked it a lot but it wouldn't have contained as much substance. So I totally get your progression with the show.
Even in the outer worlds, not everyone is a veteran Independent, so they are likely to take offense at people who supported the Independent cause, in the same way that people in the American West took offense to people who continued to voice support for the Confederacy after the end of that war.
"The Train Job": The second pilot ordered by Fox TV, and written over a weekend. 0:23 Don't worry about "The Purists," just keep watching this early Y2K TV series. Mal takes a job from psychotic crime boss Adelai Niska...
Most shows are awkward in the first season as the cast and the writers settle into the roles of the characters. Star Trek TNG, Babylon 5 are a few examples. Firefly was perfect out of the gate and they KILLED IT! Studio execs...
B5’s story is especially weird because of a personal tragedy with one of the core characters. O’Hare’s story didn’t come out until after his death, as planned with JMS.
Much of Babylon 5's first season is frankly pretty bad. The only reason I kept watching it back in the day is that it was space-based science fiction, and there wasn't a whole lot of that on the air then. (It also may have helped that I wasn't catching every episode, so it was a shorter journey to the good stuff.) It's amazing how good the show gets though (even if it does retain some clunkiness in execution throughout).
I like to think that in a parallel universe Firefly never been canceled by Fox and it had like 10 seasons with spinnoffs just like Stargate and Star Trek ☺️
the way Mal denies even the existence of any option BUT to return the medicine, REALLY defines his character for me
Yea that was a great line man!
@@phtevenj Funny thing is, Whedon didn’t like the idea of Mal having a crisis of conscience this early in the series, and he was toying with the idea of having Mal actually keep the medicine, but it was thought (correctly) by some that it would make him too much of an unsympathetic character, so they (thankfully) went with what we got.
@@cmorrow74 it also aligns better with western tropes. The lawless gunslinger with his own code of honour.
Nathan Fillion (Mal), tells a story from the days when they were shooting this show. The cast showed up one day, and Ron Glass, (Book), was wearing a beautiful sweater. Fillion complimented Glass on how much he liked the sweater. Without a second's hesitation, Glass removed the sweater, folded it neatly, and gave it to Fillion as a gift. Ron Glass was truly a class act.
Oh Ron RIP. I love him already!
Browncoats are super protective of the show. Please don't take offense at some of the salty and know-it-all comments. Enjoy the show! Your genuine reactions are great.
Wait, I can't be salty?
Salt away! Just hoping our reactor doesn't take it to heart! 🙂
I thought that about Jayne and the Fed myself for a ling time.
Mal & Simon- it's part a test, part also hazing the "new guy."
I'm thick skinned guys! Bring it! Thanks for being here with me!
@@Tampahopbut can you be terse? Or laconic?
The stuff that River says usually means something, though often times it's like a riddle or something metaphorical, so you don't get it until something happens and it clicks.
I think its safe to say that Mal and Inara are each others "it's complicated"
Does Facebook survive to this time?
Yes, the dialogue is amazing. That’s why commentators fuss at people for talking over it. Not because we don’t know it - most of us could quote much of it from memory at this point - only because you will miss something important (or hilarious).
At the same time, I really enjoy people processing what they see and hear, so just balance it out. This one was really good.
On another note, I think the sheriff was a Browncoat.
Mal and River. It’s my theory that he feels the need to protect her because of who is after her. If he can thwart The Alliance in any way, he will.
Yea I am finding the balance! Hopefully this episode was an improvement. Thanks for the compliment!
Sheriff being a Browncoat would not be a surprise to me.
I had two reasons that I explained as to why I don' t think Mal is interesting in turning River in. But you made a good and obvious third one. Why would he EVER give the Alliance what they want?
"Darn."
Only Mal can put so many shades of meaning, into just a single-word response.
Such a great Darn.
8:21 Yeah, Jayne may say he's not going to fight but he just can't ignore s good tussle ♥
Oh totally. Was waiting for him to come in. Too much alpha and testosterone there. One of my favorite lines of this episode is his "they're not as cuddly as me" line hahahahaha!
If you're cold, wear a coat. A Browncoat.
I have a tan coat in my closet but that is the closest I can come. I'll think of wearing it next time.
@@irishlatinoreacts1842 That's perfect! Any shade of brown will do (like Zoe's in this ep)!! ❤🧡💛💚💙💜
Y’know, tan is kind of a brownish color…
@@isaackellogg3493😂
My feeling is that Mal, spirit-shattered after his experiences in the war, tends to surround himself aboard Serenity with people that each represent to him some broken part of himself. His efforts to keep them together and keep them safe are reflective of his inner struggle to heal.
Great way to put that Jean. Great comment!
No matter how many times I have watched the reactions for this show, the show never gets old.
Well that is good news for me!
It is a 2nd time mentioning the compression coil. Good catch, that is very important.
Well I have to be right about one thing out of 50!
I absolutely love how, after Mal kicked Crow and sent him through the engine, Mal turns around and you can see the discomfort cross his face. He REALLY wishes he hadn't had to do that He's a practical man, and he did it because he had to, but he very much would rather not do things like that. It's a brilliant moment of acting, IMO.
Plus crow could have really fucked up the ship 🤣
@jessssayin6850 I mean, that's part of why Mal wishes he hadn't had to do that.
You tell a man like Mal you'll spend your life trying to kill him, while in a position to be killed... your fault if you're too convincing to leave alive.
That kick of Crow into the engine was truly unexpected. I know Mal regretted it but I'll have to go back and watch his face more closely.
I'm glad you're already enjoying Firefly so much. It only gets better ;)
Thank you me too!
By the way watching the very last scene again with the Aliance talking. Look closely at the detectives." 2 by 2 hands of blue"
Ohhhhhhhhhhhh wait were they wearing blue Nitrile gloves??? Now that you say that, that is crazy.
@@irishlatinoreacts1842 I had an appointment for annual bloodwork the other day and the phlebotomist was wearing those blue gloves. I told her that because of an old show I loved, her gloves creeped me out. She’d never heard of Firefly and was going to look for it to watch. Hopefully, it created another Browncoat.
@@Audra1964 Can't stop the signal!
@irishlatinoreacts1842 You got it! 😆
@@irishlatinoreacts1842 it’s not revealed in the show, but there’s more to those hands. It’s in the comics. I can tell you but it does count as kind of a minor spoiler for the relevant comic.
Alliance soldiers uniforms are supposedly repurposed Starship Troopers uniforms with a bit of purple color.
So Serenity is a "Firefly" class ship. If you look at it it is the shape of a firefly bug with a glowing but where the engine is. Much love and keep on keepin on J.
If you want to know how passionate Firefly fans are you just need to look at your numbers. The first episode you posted is only five days old and already has more than twice the views of your next most popular video which is six months old. Welcome to the Browncoats!
When you are right Katrina, you are right. I am so thankful for the Firefly community!
@@irishlatinoreacts1842we are thrilled to have you!
They can’t stop the signal, Mal.
Thanks for continuing with this show.
Thanks for bringing me so much support for this channel. No one needs to thank me. I thank everyone who watches and comments on my stupid dumb TH-cam videos. Thank you so very much!
@@irishlatinoreacts1842 I only just ran across your channel, and definitely like your style. I have some excellent recommendations for scifi if you’d like.
I'm thrilled at how much you're enjoying Firefly!!!
Me too Colleen!
The reference to "Mal" being bad was a play on words, with "Mal" being the latin root of words like malpractice or malfeasance. River sees that Mal is not actually a bad guy, even though he does engage in less than legal activities, and tries to project a cavalier attitude towards the Tams's plight, and she's illustrating how calling him Mal--even though that's technically his name--is at odds with his obvious character. It's a beautiful moment of realization for her, even though it comes off to the rest of us as accusatory on her part.
Oh that is an interesting way to look at that moment. If this is true, this is obviously nothing that a first time viewer could have gleamed. I'll keep an eye out for this! Thanks for the comment!
In fact the name Malcolm has nothing to do worth the Latin word for bad. It means “devotee of St. Columba.”
As a new BrownCoat, you should know the story behind Firefly's cancellation. This show was Dead-On-Arrival. The executive at fox who green lit
the show was a woman who'd worked with Joss before and wanted another project from him. Shortly after she signed the check and told him to
start production she left fox to take a higher paying, more responsible position at another studio (Paramount I believe ). We're talking a few days
to at most 2-3 weeks here. The person who filled her empty chair had another show he was shepherding through the acceptance process, so he
did the political move of canceling his predecessor's show. The show he eventually replaced it with was a reality tv show that only lasted 4 months.
That's right! The decision to cancel the show was made while Joss was still hiring actors, scouting locations, and polishing scripts. Early in
preproduction. The reason we got 14 episodes was a contract had been signed for half a season. The sh%thead at fox did everything he could
to reck the show. Ratings never had anything to do with it. They knew the show was number 1 on TIVO, but advertisers ignored that because it
was so easy to skip/block commercials. Also, in test marketing the show tested higher with women than men ( ironic these days ) and the fox
executives didn't know what to make of that.
Of all the words in the english language, the saddest three have to be " Might Have Been " . 😢
What was the reality show? Do you know what happened to the new exec?
That is such a depressing story. Ugh it makes me angry now but I know my anger will only grow once this experience is over.
@@Aeroldoth3 The exec that filled the empty chair was still there until the disney merger, as far as I know. As for the
reality show, I don't know the name. I'd given up on fox by then.
@@dbell1016 Thanks for answering!
Mate, love your vibe and honesty. Just found you from Firefly, enjoying you a lot!
Thanks Mate! I work with plenty of Aussies so you are most welcomed!
Love your reactions! Thanks for doing Firefly and welcome to the club!
Thanks for the compliment and thanks for being here!
You know there are a lot of reactors out there in the TH-cam 'verse. I've watched multiple ones react to shows/movies/songs I really enjoy. I've seen dozens react to Firefly and I want you to know that I am delighted to have stumbled across your reactions to it. I am enjoying how you work yourself through the reaction. I'm finding an affinity for your delivery. I might have to watch you react to others. I am especially appreciative of how you have picked up on the more compassionate aspects of dialog. Don't see that a lot in reactions because people tend to react to action. Thank you for that. Obviously, you're a SciFy fan, but I have a different series I'm going to recommend to you down the road that is very kind and compassionate that I get the strong sense you'll truly be thankful for watching, even though it's not SciFy. Happy to have found you.
This comment actually made me tear up. Thank you so so much. This community is so beautiful and it is people like you who keep me going. So glad you are here my friend. I am also acutely aware of you holding back your recommendation because (obviously) I have my hands full with Firefly right now and recommendations of other shows may get lost in the ether. But please please please hold onto it. I know that you will know the right time to recommend it. I am a fan of so much more than Sci-fi. But at least for now, it is the sci-fi community that has welcomed me with open arms.
@@irishlatinoreacts1842 I'm here and not going anywhere, We small vloggers need to support one another, and you are the kind of person I want to support.
That's a really good point. I think it's part of what made this such a strong reaction. Subbed.
UK here, huge Firefly fan... never heard of The Expanse until now.
It is worth it baby!
Ditto.
I've tried it twice. It moves so slow, I just can't get into it myself.
@@RandyPeterson Most shows can be watched at 1.5x speed without missing anything. Even Netflix gives the option to watch things faster. Give it a shot.
@@RaisiaFan1919 Thanks, but if I have to do that, the show isn't worth my time. Just my opinion. There is so much content out there.
"were the doors just open?" No, Mal opens them. You can hear the wine of the servos or hydraulics in the background sound under the dialogue ♥️🤟😎♥️
We'll have to send you a Browncoat cap so you can be "one of us"... 😁
Spoilers 😆. He has to see that episode first
A friend of mine bought me that generic-looking hat with the Serenity ship on the front and I thought to myself; "This is NOT the hat that I wanted". haha
The dialogue is fabulous. The episode are great too, 1 heavy then 1 funny. Well paced in each episode, and the run as a whole
You know that is a good point. Like the dichotomy between episode 1 and 2.
Huzzah a new video! I’m so glad to be a follower 😊
I am so glad to have followers like you!
Apparently the moon where the episode opens is called Paquin.
Ahhh, I will look at a map soon enough. But not too soon.
Yes, that is the second mention of the coil.
Good. Glad I got one thing right lol!
I hope the fellow Browncoats here chill. You've only seen two episodes so far, lol. You'll get it all sorted out eventually. 👍
Thanks for the support!
It’s always good to recruit a new Browncoat. Even one who initially missed the “hands of blue.” I picked up on that when I watched it the first time.
@@ImaCOTV A lot of reactors seem to miss the hands of blue thing. It seems glaringly obvious to me, but then I know I've missed some pretty blatant stuff in shows too, and the number of people who miss it would seem to point to some kind of mental habit. Maybe, in order to focus on dialogue, plot and so forth, people are filtering out seemingly extraneous information, like what people are wearing on their hands?
Can't Stop the Serenity. Because I watched your Episode 1 reaction, I watched this one to see your reaction to the Browncoats who responded to some of the things you said. I've heard of the Expanse and think I saw the first episode but it's one series I haven't gotten into. But I've now subscribed to your channel because I like how you did with the criticism and how open you are to learning, I'll dig out my brown coat and one of my t-shirts to wear next week. Keep 'em coming.
Thanks Shirley for the subscriptions! Definitely check out my Expanse reactions if you don't want to commit to watching every second of every episode (though that is worth it too!)
You are one of us now. It's ok to have feelings.
"Darn." - The moment I realized this was the show for me.
Second note: Jane Espenson was writing episodes fir Furefly, Buffy and Angel at this point. She was a writer on Battlestar from 2006-2010 and co-showrunner of Caprica which was a BG prequel show.
Don't know if anyone has mentioned this yet but the use of Mandrin in the show was an effort to circumvent the network censors, so if you hear Chinese they're most likely swearing up a storm (tried to get my SIL to translate but she got embarrassed listening to it, don't know why she's married to my brother nothing she hasn't heard!! lmao) ! 🤣 ETA forgot to say, the in show explanation for the mix of languages is that the Americans and the Chinese would have been the two biggies when it came to leaving earth and in the intervening centuries they two cultures would've mixed which is why you can hear the eastern instruments playing western music and the decor has a mix of influences too.
Another show I can think of that does that is, Futurama. :)
Futurama is one of my favorite shows ever!!! Jurassic Bark anyone to make you cry?
I have the script book, which includes translations of the Mandarin. Most of it is pretty elaborate and silly, but even those parts are often meant to stand in for swearing. I like that you don’t have to understand what they are saying in order to get the gist. But they are fun little Easter eggs. Apparently their pronunciation is awful!
I think they added translations on one of the season dvd editions?
0:25 Sympathetic pat on the back.
And less "testing" Simon, more "screwing with him as payback"
Sheriff: "A man can get a job, he might not look too close what that job is. But when a man learns all the details of a situation like ours, well, then he has a choice." Mal: "I don't believe he does." And that was another instance of testing someone's metal (like Mal's "dick move" comment to Simon in the first episode) and the person's reply tells you what you need to know and how you're going to proceed with them. As for River overhearing what Jayne said, keep in mind that River is pretty confused and though she overhears a lot, she doesn't really share it. It just stays in her head. I also thought you'd catch on to, or comment about, River saying "two by two, hands of blue" and the last scene where two appeared looking for her, with hands of blue. Maybe you made the connection but just didn't comment.
As for the hands of blue, I said in the reaction that I thought it meant hands of a corpse. I did not catch their hands having blue gloves. But many commenters have turned me onto that fact. The Mal lines are amazing. This show has amazing dialogue.
36:03 PILOT EPISODE, INTRODUCTIONS AND RELEASE ORDER - The original series run did noy have those introductions. They were not in the purchase DVD or Blu-Ray either (I upgraded LOL). They were added on later. Episode 1 Serenity was the original pilot episode but the network thought it was too dark and requested a lightening in tone, but you can see the repeated set up and dialogue. So The Train Job became "the pilot episode" and was shown first.
Crazy they weren't I the DVD...
Congrats on getting over 1,000 subscribers. 🥳🎉🥳🎉🥳
Thank you so much! It is due to people like you!
You are freaking hilarious. Love watching with you.
I agree about the exposition intro - maybe a bit odd if you’re not expecting it, but kinda nice honestly. Sets the tone, even if you’re watching this as a second and not a pilot episode.
This episode as a whole sets the tone really well in a lot of ways. Ya got a group of criminals, but not a group of bad people.
Very good analysis of why turning in the siblings probably wouldn’t be a good idea. I think you’ve got the character of the Alliance pretty spot on.
Thanks for the comment and the compliment! Yea this episode really taught me a lot about Mal and Zoey.
Hey dude, the "dumb" takes are just how you see what you're watching; we all take something different from it. It's the multiple/continuous repeat viewings that cement all the relevant facts in your head.
Thanks for the comment my friend!
TWO BY TWO, HANDS OF BLUE
Gregg Henry(The sheriff) is also in "Payback," with Mel Gibson, Maria Bello, and Lucy Liu.
Super under rated movie! Good shout out!
Gotta watch that!
@@irishlatinoreacts1842 please do, but not the directors cut. Weirdly it's shorter, & they cut out some of the best scenes.
@@jeffthompson9622 Gregg Henry (the Sheriff) was also in Guardians of the Galaxy as well. Of note, The Guardians creator (now CEO of DC) James Gunn is a good friend of Nathan Fillion.
Adam Baldwin is not a brother of Alec, Stephen, and William. He has been in a number of other science fiction projects, including "Independence Day" and "Predator 2." He was in science fiction shows "Chuck" and "The Last Ship." He was in quite a few other films, like "My Bodyguard" and "The Patriot."
Don't forget the final season of Angel.
He was also in Next of Kin. Not a good movie but a fun action movie that has many famous actors before they became famous
Yup, google told me that he was only distantly related.
Chuck was pretty good, although somehow 5 seasons of it did not change Adam's calling card from “Jayne ...” to “John Casey” (leaving ellipsis here, since Jayne's last name wasn't yet revealed - although it's not something important).
@@irishlatinoreacts1842 The 1st thing that I saw Adam Baldwin in was the 1987 film "Full Metal Jacket".
Full Metal Jacket was nominated for 11 awards between 1987 and 1989, including an Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay, two BAFTA Awards for Best Sound and Best Special Effects, and a Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actor for Ermey. The movie won 8 awards and was nominated for 15 in total. source: wikipedia
❤🧡💛💚💙💜
It wasn't just that this episode aired first. This episode was written as a replacement pilot. Basically they shot the pilot and gave it to the executives at Fox, and the executives didn't like it. There were different reasons for that (in reality, the executives just didn't want the show to run because there was a change in leadership after the show was green lit), but one of the cited reasons was a relative lack of action in the pilot (I believe the opening scene with the war wasn't originally in the pilot they shot). So Joss Whedon and the writers wrote The Train Job in a weekend a Joss's house. The exposition at the very beginning wasn't even part of it originally. A later release (maybe the DVD release? Can't remember) added that bit of exposition to most episodes, not just this one. So they wrote the episode to give you a quick and dirty introduction to who everyone is without the more thorough introduction in the pilot. We're introduced to Mal, Zoe, and Jayne as fighters. The first shot of Kaylee is coming from underneath a panel in a mechanics' get up. Wash is in the pilot seat. Simon's in the infirmary and River's introduced with a flashback to the Academy. It's all quick and dirty introductions to make room for the action that the execs said they wanted
Far as I'm concerned, you're already one of us. Welcome to the fold, new Browncoat. Stay shiny!
Thanks! So glad to be part of such an amazing community! I need to find me one of these actual Browncoats!
@irishlatinoreacts1842 there's lots of merch out there. I have a set of Mal's military dogtags, all 5 action figures, a few different models of Serenity, and some other things that would amount to minor spoilers if I mentioned them, this early in your journey.
@@irishlatinoreacts1842 On a related note, if you watch Nathan's next show, Castle, in season 2 he wears the full-on Malcolm Reynolds costume for Halloween. When his daughter asks him what he's supposed to be, he replies, "Space cowboy." Her reply ends with, "Didn't you wear that 5 years ago?" It was, of course, 2009, five years post-Serenity the movie.
Re the sheriff being a standup guy, there’s a scene at the station where he lights a cigarette, takes like 2 drags, then gives it to someone in his jail cell. Just a small gesture in the middle of an expository monologue, but it’s the same humanizing narrative we see when he understands Mal’s “job.”
There is an interactive map of the Firefly solar system on the Serenity movie DVD. River isn't really influenced much by what she hears others say. Her interface with reality is tenuous and a future episode will show you just how she sees things that are occurring around her. For now, let's just say that she is VERY aware of what is going on around her......and a lot more. She doesn't see reality like everyone else does and gets easily confused as to what's real and what's not. That's probably telling you too much already. Underneath it all she's just a 16 year old teenage girl.
You were pretty sharp to catch that Kaylee told Mal twice that the compression coil needs replacing, but you seem to have missed the 2 men with blue gloves on at the end.
Firefly didn't really become popular until a year after the series ended when the DVDs came out. The episodes on the DVDs were in the correct order and all 14 episodes were on the DVDs, not just the 11 that aired on tv. Two years later the Movie Serentity came out. It wrapped up a couple of the storylines and left about a dozen storylines unfinished. A lot of information about where the storylines were suppose to go came from Joss Whedon during the Firefly Comicons and reunions. Information about what was suppose to happen gives away a lot of spoilers as to what is going on in the backround of the series, even though it's not canon. There is a hard-bound comic book that was written after the series was cancelled about Shepherd Book's entire life. I have it. It's called "A Shepherd's Tale" and, to my knowledge, is the only canon about the backround of the characters that wasn't shown in the series or the movie. As Shepherd Book will say in the future, "I wasn't born a Shepherd".
New firefly reactor! Ignite the beacon!
THE BEACONS OF MINAS TIRITH ARE LIT!!!
I think this episode is just more character building so we care more about our crew when shit really hits the fan.
I care so much more about the crew because I watched episode 1 first. What the hell was Fox thinking?
In the first reaction I mentioned that there is a Firefly ship in a BSG episode.
I forgot to mention that you can sometimes see a small Han Solo in Carbonite figurine in the background on the wall of Serenity.
It's fun to look for when rewatching.
Oh snap really? I've got to find that!
IIRC it's in every episode.
750 to 1000 subs between the first one and this one, well done!
It's not my doing. It's your doing! Thank you so much!
Oh, you misunderstood our "warning" about heavy recap. We didn't mean the 30 seconds in the beginning, we meant the scenes on the ship where Mal walks around and talks to everyone.
Did you happen so see what those "Higher ups" at the end were wearing on their hands? did it seem familiar to something that had been said earlier in the episode?
Yes, all the conversations between characters early in the episode spell out the other characters situations and why and how long they have been on the ship etc, in a way which is slightly redundant if you've just watched the proper pilot episode, but goes some way to introducing the characters if this is treated as the pilot.
@gennytun thank you. Better worded than I managed.
Oh guys, I just wrote the script for episode 3 and I address this aspect heavily.
Hey, my man, MUCH improved over the last one. You listened and it shows. BTW, I believe the captions are off/wrong a bit ... I'm fairly certain (like 100%), from many, MANY viewings, on my own and through tons of reactions (yeah, one of my favorites) ... the word they are using is "Shiny", not "Shining", and Gina Torres' character name is ZOE, but it's pronounced Zo-ey (like Joey). Just don't want people calling you on it. Also, the captions keep saying "Gorr", but the word they are saying is "Gorram" (i.e. God Damn). The use of "close" words was to allow them to cuss like normal people and still get by the censors. It's also the reason for the use of Chinese ... when they are talking in Chinese, they are almost certainly cussing/cursing. Finally, I think you missed the significance of the two "agents" at the end who came in "two by two, hands of blue". Don't worry, most people do.
Hey thanks man! Appreciate the compliment! I watched it again and Zoey does definitely sound like she says shining, but that still could be a trick of the ears. Yea they are getting away with a lot of swear words through Chinese huh?
Yeah, the subtitles clearly aren't in line with the slang of Firefly.
@@irishlatinoreacts1842 I can't speak to that one particular time, without going back and carefully listening to it, but I've only ever heard "shiny" and that fits with all the other times people say "shiny".
@@irishlatinoreacts1842 Yeah, for sure ... and I'm sure I responded to this earlier, but as I've seen happen a half a dozen times in the past, they magically disappeared. It got so bad for a while, I was copying my comments into a notepad so I could put them back in when they got "disappeared". Anyway, I extracted the subtitles for this and the 1st episode (Serenity) ... just to be sure and, though they say, "shiny" 4 times in that 1st one, the ONLY occurrence in this episode, they show as "shining", so I would bet that Gina Torres (Zoe, i.e. "Zoey") just flubbed the line and they mimicked it in the subtitles. However, in both episodes, they say "gorram" many times, but your subtitles kept showing "garr".
It's really not important, but I didn't want you to get blasted for it. So, you were right, but it was pretty much a fluke, which is why I assumed (never do that) you had gotten it wrong. I should've checked to be sure but, in the future, you WILL see them say "shiny", not "shining".
Of note; the Alliance troopers armor was repurposed costumes from Starship Troopers 😯😯😯
Great reaction again! Joss Whedon has great dialogue and episodes often centre around themes (morality in this episode as you pointed out).
Thanks for the compliment and thanks for being here!
Ep 1. Thinking Jayne gave the Fed the cutting device was an intentional misdirect. How he git it is unclear.
Mal telling Simon that Kaylee was dead was just Mal messing with him. Mal was mad that Simon made Mal a fugitive, but since Simon did a good job, Mal simply messed with his head to get a laugh out of it. I don't see anything deeper.
As far as the reverence for Firefly, you hear it most when people talk about "Brilliant but Canceled" shows. It often tops both fan and critic polls.
This was written over a weekend as a new pilot when FOX refused to air the actual pilot. It aired last (not including three episodes that aired on SyFy much later.
Adam Baldwin isn't a Balwin brother.
River is supposed to be a teen, but the youngest actor is Jewel (Kaylee) who was 20. Yet, she has had a longer career than anyone but the significantly older Adam Baldwin and Ron Glass (Book). Summer and Morena were slightly older (21/22).
One of the few shows that I highly recommend reacting to the gag reel afterwards.
This episode. I don't think it is an accident r coincidence that Mal usually ends up in an Alliance friendly bar on U-Dsy.
The Fed soldiers are wearing the iminiforms from Starship Troopers to save money.
The design of Serenity is after a Firefly. Each level of the ship are complete connected sets so a character can walk from one end to the other without cuts.
Shiny = good.
If you’re already loving this show, you will REALLY love it about 5 or so episodes in.
This show is fine. Like whatever...hahahahaha...LOVE IT ALREADY MAN!
"Irish on the bottom, Latin American on top" makes me think of a wild red and black mullet, lol. Business in the front, party in the back!
When Darren says that, It reminds me of a top shelf drink, tbh :)
I am gonna go with the top shelf drink here folks hahahaha
@@irishlatinoreacts1842 Hell yeah brother! We're gonna have to come up with some drink ingredients ideas or something and make it legit :p
Irish coffee with tequila instead of whiskey?
You are correct in pointing out that the series is episodic; most of the macro story arc has to do with character and relationships instead of plot line. Great react; keep’em coming!
That's the plan! Thanks for the compliment!
I wasn't 100% onboard with the series until this ep, when Mal says 'Darn' in his conversation with Crow at the end, then i nearly fell out of my chair laughing.
That was such a great moment!
Fox did not think viewers would sit through an hour-and-a-half-long premiere episode.
To be fair, I've seen other people talk about how the pilot seemed kind long and/or slow, and express the fact that the show kept getting better episode after episode when they'd only finished episode 3, 4 or maybe 5. I disagree with that. If the show has a rut (comparatively speaking), I think those episodes are it, and "Serenity" is easily the best of the early episodes. But maybe there was actually something to what the Fox execs were saying. Their alternative, however, was hardly an improvement. (Start with episode 2, without nearly as much setup, show episodes out of order, then release the pilot episode last? What kind of sense does that make?) I also think that some people just took a while to really get into the characters, so that whatever episode came 2nd, 3rd, 4th or 5th would've had an advantage over the one(s) that came before.
this guy is a really good reactor
This guy is a really good commenter!!! Thanks for the compliment =)
Was that Mal testing Simon in the first episode when he said Kaylee was dead? Idk, this is the first time I’ve ever heard that explanation. Doesn’t seem impossible to me, and I kinda like it, but if anyone tells you that’s 100% for sure no question what he was doing, I’d take that with a grain of salt. 😅
The way he was laughing with the crew and calling himself a “bad man” speaks to me more like he was having a laugh at Simon’s expense and didn’t feel too bad about it given the trouble Simon’s already brought all of them.
Either way, having fun with these videos so far and hope you do too! Those tinted reactions keep making me laugh. 😊
Hahahaha thanks man! I think TINT is my color!
We don't know if Jayne helped Dobson escape or not. He wouldn't have wanted Dobson to be free while Mal was on the ship because Jayne had no way of knowing how it would turn out, but by giving him a means of escape, he would have had plausible deniability. Jayne probably didn't take his offer because he probably didn't think he could control this situation, but it is possible that he was thinking about it for a bit while he had the sniper rifle trained on Mal. I don't think we're supposed to know what Jayne did or was thinking. It was written in a way to leave it ambiguous.
I think future episodes weigh in on this matter, and I have opinions based on that, but it's not something I can discuss without spoilers. What I will say is that Mal being in the sights could just be a misdirect (with the in-universe explanation just being that Jane is just seeing what's going on, as if he's looking through binoculars).
Fox did this show dirty , indeed.
And I thought what they did to Futurama was bad.
When Mal said Kaylee was dead, yes it was a dick move and it's hilarious. When everyone was on the bridge and laughing, in that moment I knew I would love this show and the series did not disappoint. Mal absolutely loved fucking with Simon in that moment (as much as the writers did with the audience). As you watch the show, speculate, theorize and voice your opinions. We want to hear❣ A lot of times with Whedon shows there's no right or wrong answer. They are meant spark philosophical conversations. And yeah, lovers of the show will have their own opinions, but that doesn't mean yours isn't valid. Don't hold back. :D
It makes me smile, to imagine that Guy Holding a Chicken and Chicken Wrangler were returning members of the cast and crew.
Hahaha is that true? Amazing!
"Two by two...hands of blue..." 😉
The Train Job was written over a long weekend. They worked in some character introduction moments, but the studio wanted more action and that's what they got. At the very end, after the show was basically cancel, is when they showed the original double length pilot. 🤦♂️🤦♂️🤦♂️🤷♂️
Regarding the sheriff - his coat had kind of a brownish color too... My guess is he also fought on the side of the Independents.
As of my viewing, 996 subscribers! On the threshold of 1k!
Thank you! I have since been educated on what two by two, hands of blue mean. that is crazy that The Train Job was written over a weekend!
Joss Whedon and Tim Minear were called into a meeting with the Fox executives, and they suspected that the studio disliked the original pilot, and wanted a new one. “Hey, I bet we could write one in a weekend.” Fox said “We need a new pilot script. Have it done by Monday.” To which Joss and Tim said “What?! In only a weekend? Impossible!”
Then they did it.
@@irishlatinoreacts1842 this whole series is a crazy hot mess, and by the end you will be a Browncoat forever, cursing the fools that screwed it up and quite possibly rewatching it, either alone or on other folks' reactions... :)
Congrats on cracking the 1K subs level!
Thank you! It is because of people like you!
Enjoyed your 1st two Firefly reactions. Your doing great, this show is fun and whitty but not incredibly complex. I'm sure gonna cruise right though and be sad like the rest of us it's over so soon. Everything's Shinny 😊
I've already fallen in love with the show after 2 episodes. God effing damnit!
3:45 Loved that bit :)
Thanks Silver!
Don't worry about "nitpik" comments too much. Most are about things that you will derive on your own. The "not watching recaps" one is worthwhile because the recaps tend to spoil what is about to happen in the episode a bit by saying "Hey, remember this thing that happened on a previous episode? It's about to pay off now." I surmise that you will remember what happened on previous episodes without a reminder.
True. A lot of shows do that. Lost anyone?
Yeah. Plus there's no reason to watch the recaps anyway, unless it's been long enough for you that you don't remember what's going on
Great reaction, really enjoying your work. Also, Adam Baldwin is the Baldwin that's not in the brotherhood. The Baldwins are Alec, Billy, Stephen, and Daniel.
Thanks for the compliment Julie! Adam doesn't need those three hacks!
Cargo door hold needs to open to get the cargo out.
Yea yea yea haha.
Nice apology. You still need better friends. :P Browncoats are usually a better grade of people. The brawl with the holographic window was amazing bait, and then the "Darn" set the hook. Been flopping on the dock every since. Adam Baldwin is the Baldwin who isn't a Baldwin brother; he's the non-douchey one. Pay attention to everything River says, her madness only seems mad because she's written as an oracle. Also, excellent of you to notice the compression coil; I'll say no more. That which is shiny was once cool on Earth-That-Was.
I'm not sure if anyone stated this yet, but this was actually the first aired pilot. Fox actually initially turned down the original pilot "Serenity" saying it was too long and not "action packed" enough. So they gave him and his writers the weekend to write this episode. The original pilot was later aired after it was canceled as a tv special and series finale.
Yes people have made me aware. Crazy how that was the case.
39:57
Why wouldn't he. The crew are in a very similar situation to the people on the planet.
Some people have a hard time looking past their own authority. The sheriff could easily have justified seeing them as "breaking the law" as opposed to him "upholding the law"
If you are gonna keep doing this long intro thing with Firefly.....continue. Long winded rants about the minutiae is what we are all here for.
Well let's keep doing it then! Appreciate the encouragement.
Love your reaction so far - welcome new Browncoat recruit. Since you are referring to BSG : There's (very small) Firefly easter egg hidden in the mini series.
Thanks for the compliment and thanks for being here! I have heard of that easter egg and need to go find it!
The lore dump at the beginning wasn't the 2nd pilot stuff that I was talking about. There was just a lot of subtle rehashing of some things from the first unaired episode - who are the "passengers" and why are they there (re: Book, Simon, River), what is the relationship between our crew and the alliance, what kind of work do they do, small takes into each of their characters so we know who they are without seeing Serenity. They did a good job masking it all as character development or character cementing maybe, but whatever. I don't think it works well as a stand alone pilot. Luckily that's not the case here. :)
The dialog is good, and the show is pretty unique if you look at when it was released. There was very little mainstream dark sci-fi out there at the time, so it's good stuff. It may be a little dated now and not so unique, but the best parts of the show and what makes it super great and such heartache to us are coming. Stay tuned.
I have to take very minor issue with the commenter who postulated Mal "testing" Simon in the first episode. I mean, MAYBE he was, certainly a (remote) possibility. But, if you couple the "test" with the laughter from the rest of the crew right after Simon finding out Kaylee was okay and Mal saying amid the laughter "I am a bad, bad man"; frankly Mal was messing with Simon just to mess with him, and (spoiler alert) won't be the last time.
I will say (although I'm sure you've probably been inundated with the same observation from other commenters), despite the lunatic gibberish it may seem to be, ALWAYS pay attention to what River says. "Two by two, hands of blue". Rewatch the last ten minutes of the episode.
Final comment on a personal note: Irish on top, Latino on the bottom? Where does the American mid-west accent come from (inquires the guy from Ohio).
The cargo lock was opened in preparation for taking the "mule" out to return the medicine.
Right that makes sense
You can see that Hollywood recycles props. The Alliance solders helmets are from Starship Troopers. I know the ships (& shuttles) schematics by heart. Mostly because ther is a Role Playing Game based off Pathfinder call Serenity. Can't wait until you get to the Best episode, I guarantee you'll think also. Until then;
Keep Fly'n!
Ooooo which is the best episode I wonder? Shhhhhh
Adelai Niska is such a great villain.
Oh not that last time we have to deal with him then?
I don’t know about testing the Doc, I think Mal was just pulling a prank.
Likely a sortof unofficial hazing/initiation ritual to "welcome" him into the crew (family). Military and other overmasculine types tend to do that sort of thing, I gather.
Tell that to all the commenters on the first video haha
I always took it to be a hazing kind of thing, but it could potentially be a bit of both.
@@irishlatinoreacts1842, sometimes -- for a fan -- your heroes can do no wrong. Mal has an honorable side, but he can also be a dick. After his prank against Simon, nobody was all that surprised when he later in the episode shot a horse, or put a bullet in the Alliance guy despite River being in danger.
Never thought Mal was testing the Doc there. It always felt like an affective prank because he was angry about the situation the Doc put him in. He even jokingly admits he's a bad man to the core crew.
That testing interpretation seems to be made up by ultra fans of Mal to justify this morally questionable action. Same with him cold-blooded executing Crow in the current episode. Saying he totally regrets this just doesn't hold up IMHO. I think Mal anticipated Crow would become a problem and he had to use him to make a cruel example. I took his expression more in the meaning 'Darn, I knew it' instead of 'Darn, I'm so disgusted I have to do this'.
I saw this episode when it first aired, and I didn't finish the season. Later, I watched in the intended order and loved it. I hope the studio exec responsible for that is cleaning toilets somewhere.
Adam isn't related to Alec.
I think Mal was mainly having fun with Simon regarding Kaylee's death.
Remember that the Fed from ep1 told Jayne he'd get enough to buy his own ship as a reward. I think Jayne's greed is overwhelming his sense.
Yea once again if this was the first episode ever, I would've liked it a lot but it wouldn't have contained as much substance. So I totally get your progression with the show.
Even in the outer worlds, not everyone is a veteran Independent, so they are likely to take offense at people who supported the Independent cause, in the same way that people in the American West took offense to people who continued to voice support for the Confederacy after the end of that war.
Third times the charm! 😊
I know right???
"The Train Job": The second pilot ordered by Fox TV, and written over a weekend. 0:23 Don't worry about "The Purists," just keep watching this early Y2K TV series. Mal takes a job from psychotic crime boss Adelai Niska...
Did you process that the two guys tracking Simon and River had "hands of blue?"
SHINY - everything is cool
Or groovy (I’m old) or awesome or swweeet!
@@Audra1964 I am so old i remember watching "My Mother the Car".
Most shows are awkward in the first season as the cast and the writers settle into the roles of the characters. Star Trek TNG, Babylon 5 are a few examples. Firefly was perfect out of the gate and they KILLED IT! Studio execs...
B5’s story is especially weird because of a personal tragedy with one of the core characters.
O’Hare’s story didn’t come out until after his death, as planned with JMS.
Firefly is doing nothing but killing it so far.
Much of Babylon 5's first season is frankly pretty bad. The only reason I kept watching it back in the day is that it was space-based science fiction, and there wasn't a whole lot of that on the air then. (It also may have helped that I wasn't catching every episode, so it was a shorter journey to the good stuff.) It's amazing how good the show gets though (even if it does retain some clunkiness in execution throughout).
I like to think that in a parallel universe Firefly never been canceled by Fox and it had like 10 seasons with spinnoffs just like Stargate and Star Trek ☺️
Watch the last scene one more time. Pay attention.
Latino on top, Irish on the bottom? Does that mean you can Riverdance to a Latin beat?
Absolutely!