My days of watching Firefly are certainly coming to a middle! We're on episode 9 on Patreon for watch-along AND edited reactions! Watch ahead here: www.patreon.com/shadowcatreacts Thanks so much for joining me on my first trip on Serenity💖🚀🤠
I’d like to suggest a show that doesn’t get a lot of attention, but I believe people would love if they knew about it. The show is Jericho, starring Skeet Ulrich. Like Firefly, it was cancelled after one season, but fans convinced the producers to make a short second season. There was some hope for a third season but it never materialized. I don’t want to tell you any more about it, so your reaction wouldn’t be spoiled. But I guarantee you’ll love the characters if you give it a chance.
Once your done and also watched the movie I'd love a talk video on who your fav characters were, plot points, what you thought over all, fav eps! Also watch Tera Nova another short lived series that was pretty cool
Any interest in other also way too short but oh so good series? This Is Going to Hurt Hannibal Life Sense 8 Gentleman Jack Good Omens Manchild The Great Angels in America After Life Fleabag One Mississippi Noah's Ark Our Flag Means Death
Mal took the measure of Simon by telling him that Kaylee was dead. Simon didn't try to get himself out of trouble, and he didn't try to attack Mal. He ran to try to save his patient. That's a man who can be trusted.
One thing you'll notice in this franchise. In most cases, Malcolm Reynolds is a decent marksman. But when he gets angry, his shooting is precise, nearly surgical.
The mandarin is mostly swears, but some of it isnt. The logic is that a quarter of the planet speaks it so it got blended in with english in the future.
@@rexmundi2986 Which was pretty forwards-thinking for a US TV show at the time it was written. The China we have today isn't the one that was around twenty years ago, although it seemed likely it was going to happen.
Welcome to the 'verse, I can almost guarantee you will be in love with the series, characters and ship (Serenity is an important character). Don't forget the follow-up movie "Serenity "
Subscribed! Just FYI: think of a Companion along the lines of a geisha or courtesan. Sex is part of the job, but they're trained in music, art, politics. They can mingle in upper society.
Exactly. Sex is only part of the job, not even the biggest part. Mainly they're trained to be cultured, refined, witty, charming, and excellent company.
Hi Shadowcat. One of the reasons so many reactors watch Firefly is because even the almighty YT algorithm gets it right occasionally. We Browncoats are very loyal, and because we watch so many reactors discover the show, we get first-timers recommended to us, and well, we watch! If we vibe with you we'll stick around. 😁 We make for a decent boost to subs. I very much hope you're loving the show, though by now you're in the 'dread zone' "oh no... the end is nigh!". As I said, Browncoats watch as many reactors as we can find as they discover the crew, and I have to say, you made an absolutely BRILLIANT connection, really really early. When Mal kissed his cross, you were able to clearly connect the world of the show to Earth. I don't think I've seen anyone else make that logic leap so early, or with such intelligent insight. Looking forward to watching with you.
It's so funny to me now after watching so many reactors watch episode 1 how may times I chuckle at all the similar misconceptions and misunderstandings, and red-herrings they all attach onto.
I watched what episodes Fox TV deigned to broadcast back in the early 2000s, but didn't see the complete, 14-episode, half season show until I bought the DVD set. It gladdens this old Browncoat's heart to see more people boarding "Serenity" for a great ride. In the beginning, Sgt. Malcolm Reynolds was an Independent/Browncoat, fighting against The Alliance, which could be viewed as "The Galactic Empire" of "Star Wars." A Companion is more like a Geisha, part of the Companion Guild. Note: Every time a TH-cam viewer falls in love with "Firefly," a Fox TV executive falls off the Nakatomi Plaza building.
Always watch Zoe whenever Mal starts talking fast. she's either smirking knowingly or rolling her eyes.Plus, she's the stone killer on the show. Mal and Jayne are fighting men, but Zoe is simply deadly. A "Crazy Ivan" was a Soviet submarine tactic from the Cold War. US subs were so stealthy that the Russians would frequently do a sudden 180 turn hoping to surprise them.
The exchange between Inara and Book while he's having his crisis of faith is a beautiful example of the deeper "companion skills" that she possesses. The ability to listen, console, and comfort. Beyond the base carnality of the occupation, she presents an experience that is so deep and meaningful (maybe to be a superb performer? Reputation?) based on that ability to "read" a person.
Space Western is one of the staples of science fiction. Spaceships are analogues of covered wagons, and colonizing a planet had many similarities with settling new territory. One thing i love about this show is the presence of horses. If you're colonizing a new planet, you can breed horses much faster than you can create vehicle manufacturing plants.
20:21 “The Shepherd’s got moves!” *YES,* and I think you’re the first/only out of several reactors I’ve watched who noticed that during the confusion, right off the bat.
You did really well with this! The pilot throws a lot at you, and it’s meant to. It makes the world feel established and lived in without a bunch of exposition dumps. :) I’m also happy that you were enjoying the sets - the set designers did an amazing job!
I have watched several reactors take on "Firefly." None of them "got" as many major themes and minor background touches of this show as this one. This is going to be great!
OMG! No bummage here. This is my favorite show that never happened! RIP. I'm not spoiling anything by telling you there is a feature film that ties up most of the loose ends.
The keyword is most. I actually like it that way. I’ve always felt that, when people love a show, they want to tear it apart, till no area of mystery remains. It’s nice to leave some parts unexplored.
So glad to see you reacting to Firefly, lovely lady. I think you're really going to enjoy it. BTS trivia: Jewel Staite ("Kaylee") isn't very fond of strawberries.
This show is so perfect❤ all the characters, the sci-fi/western mashup theme, and running plots are amazing. Make sure to watch Serenity and post it when you’re finished with the season please❤❤❤
Regarding the Chinese, it's just part of the worldbuilding (early 2000s, China was ascendant, so the thinking is that Chinese would be a new lingua franca in the future)... and an excuse to have the characters say things that would otherwise get censored in English. It's very much a space western, and the whole war/aftermath is meant to be an analogue to the US civil war since that's also a common point of reference/framing for westerns. This, unfortunately, places Mal and company on the 'Southern' side of this particular scenario, but... Also, I'd be a bad stereotypical Canadian if I didn't point out that two of the main cast are fellow Canucks: Nathan Fillion (Mal) and Jewel Staite (Kaylee).
Or, it would place them on the American side of the American Revolution. They weren’t fighting for slavery or anything. They were fighting to not be brought into some big, fascist government.
@@goldenageofdinosaurs7192 Except that...western. Like I said, post-civil war setting with civil war veterans as main characters is a long-running western trope. And yeah, they're portrayed as the good guys fighting against an oppressive government, but there are still people in the southern states that think that about the US civil war. Not saying the characters in the show are bad, there are just some unfortunate connections given the use of that particular trope.
@@ArmouredPhalanx SPOILER for episode 2 . . . . . the big distinction here is that the alliance is very much pro-slavery and continues to permit it after their victory.
Welcome to THE show! I love note takers, means they’re paying close attention. The dialogue is critical to the story and it’s easy to miss things. Looking forward to more.
Mal kissing the cross is very intentional and fundamental to Malcolm's character arch. Mal is a man who has lost his faith. He no longer accepts any higher authority (God or government) and relies solely on himself and those closest to him.
Yay! Firefly too! :) The food was not only concentrated, it is loaded with immunization supplements. Most people aren't eating those, but though who can, probably try to make it last as long as possible, while also eating lower quality protein, and fresh food when they can get it.
The Chinese phrases were an attempt to show that Chinese was the second most common language among the colonists, on the planets in the star system where the show takes place. (They used it more in the pilot, and less later when they realize it's a pian to do it so often.) And they say 'Earth that Was' because Earth got ruined a long time ago, and most humans moved here, to these new planets.
Bit of trivia for you: I recall seeing an interview with (I think?) one of the cinematographers, in which they said they purposely broke a lot of traditional "rules" when filming this. Examples in this episode: @33:48, where Mal's head is not always in frame, panning around into the lens flare, etc. There are also a couple of zooms (one zoom out, centered on Badger as they're leaving, and a zoom in on the Reaver ship when it first appears). One another tidbit, which probably amuses me more than it should. The moment @39:52 when they ignite the interplanetary drive in the atmosphere always calls to my mind the Kzinti Lesson (from an unrelated series of SF books from several decades back): "A reaction drive's efficiency as a weapon is directly proportional to its efficiency as a drive." Or, put another way, "just because this ship has no guns doesn't mean it has no weapons." :)
So glad to see you watching this! To help with there only being one season and one movie, there's also some funny bloopers for both, and the River Tam Chronicles that were released before the movie. There's also quite a few official books that help answer some questions not answered by the movie.
Shadowcat, just for clarity's sake, the show wasn't canceled after the first season, it was canceled DURING the first season. It just abruptly stops after Episode 14. There were a number of more episodes planned for the first season.
I am so excited to see this on your channel. I hope you get enough views to make it worth your while. Or just that you find it interesting enough to keep going.
... "8 feel like there's a lot of names being thrown at me right now." It's almost like it's the first episode and they're trying to get the world set up so they don't have to spend too much time on it later.
Thank you for doing this series, it awesome and has a great following! Welcome the Browncoats! Don't forget to watch the follow up movie Serenity to close it out!
This is a great show and was cancelled too early in the first season by FOX. Jayne is the muscle of the crew otherwise known as Public Relations. FOX didn't like this pilot so they requested another be made, which is the Train Job.
Unfortunately this series ended unexpectedly, and leaving you with unresolved plots, that is why anyone who watches and loves firefly will have to watch the follow up movie called Serenity, and this helps in resolution of the story.
Fantastic! I just finished watching the last reactor finishing the movie, today! I love seeing new people fall in love with the show. It's like discovering the show, all over again, through new eyes!
I really want to answer the questions. But these will be spoilers, and they won't thank me. However, there are some explanations that will not reveal the plot. The Firefly is a cargo ship, and there are no weapons installed on it. Therefore, they will not be able to fight back against the military, mad men or pirates. Of course, not every ship has an companion. It's just that the status of their ship is so low that they won't be allowed into a decent place unless there is at least one socially respected person on board. The most respected person on their ship is the companion.
I'm sure you've been informed by now but the Two Main Superpowers that were able to leave the "Earth-That-Was" were America and China so there is a lot of Chinese influence interwoven where they could while still keeping it understandable for an American audience. When they use a Chinese word or phrase or sentence, it was intentionally designed for audiences to know the "meaning" conveyed even if they don't know the words specifically. It's also a great way to bypass profanity filters.
Glad you're reacting to this series! It's a real delight! Be sure to watch the feature film "Serenity" after watching the 14 episodes, not to be confused with the series pilot. The series was cancelled suddenly, so there were many questions unanswered, no closure, not even a cliff-hanger. But there was enough of a cult following to convince the powers that be to make a follow-up film, which does answer some questions. The backstory on the bilingual characters is that there were two superpowers on Earth That Was before we left to build colonies: Basically America and China. Everyone speaks both languages, but in practice they switch to Chinese when the dialog gets colorful. This notion carries throughout the production, as shown in the diversity of culture and the use of peculiar combinations of instruments in the musical score. I glimpsed one of the cards at the end of the video, which was for your reaction to "Buffy the Vampire Slayer". That's interesting because Joss Whedon did that series as well as Firefly. He also did the "Avenger" movies and the "Agents of Shield" series. I hope you watched the original Buffy movie with Rutger Hauer, he was great!
When the series aired live it was aired out of order and the time and day of the week it aired was changed. The characters were introduced in the eighth episode aired. Joss Whedon had a number of storylines in his mind about every character and it would take several years to tell all the storylines but, the series was canceled in the middle of filming the 14th episode. A year or so later all the episodes were put in the correct order and sold as a DVD set. It then became wildly popular. Several years later a movie was made but all the story lines could not be completed in one movie.
@@jeffh1266I miss that from the shows of this era, the made up curse words so they could curse and still skip the censors. Firefly had "gorram" (and all the mandarin), Battlestar Galactica had "frak" & Defiance had "shtako".
This was the pilot episode and a beautifully constructed introduction to the show and the characters. Fox, of course, refused to show it as the first episode; they didn't run it until after they already had cancelled the show.
Cool - releasing the start of Buffy and Firefly at he same time. That's so much Whedon! Looking forward to it - I swear almost every time I watch a reactor finish Firefly, another one begins! It's the one season of tv that just never goes away 🙂 (how is there no "space cowboy" emoji?)
This was such a great series with such a great cast, this is one of my 2 favorite sci-fi westerns! Kaylee is the Princess of Serenity! This is a D&D party type group!
A couple of world-building details details for you. These aren't ever really explicitly spelled out in the show, so I don't think they constitute spoilers. This show takes place in undefined distant future, entirely within a single solar system(which is not our current solar system that we now live in). So they're not jumping between different galaxies or anything, it's all just a bunch of planets orbiting the same star. Many of these planets have been terraformed to be habitable for humans, but they aren't all necessarily the greatest places to live. The outer planets tend to be rather barren and inhospitable, while the inner planets are a lot more lush and rich in resources. Unfortunately for our rag-tag crew, the inner planets are also ruled by the oppressive and authoritarian Alliance, which Mal and Zoe fought a losing war against six years prior to the beginning of this show. The reason characters keep speaking Chinese is that, in this hypothetical future, China and the west grew to be the two biggest superpowers on Earth, and became so intermingled in their culture that almost everyone spoke English and Chinese equally well. The humans that settled this new solar system inherited this same culture from "Earth-that-was", and thus everyone in this show is equally fluent in English and Chinese.
Real explanation for the Chinese is that it's how that got swearing on without offending the censors. The in universe explanation is that when Earth was abandoned, the US and China were the two dominant world powers that spear headed the migration to "The Verse" which is the name of the star cluster where the show takes place. So most people in the show are at least somewhat bilingual in English and Chinese.
Howdy :) I like your reaction :) There are very few reactors that have stopped and put that much thought into what people are saying like Zoe when she's talking about the Reavers, or Simon explaining in detail why River is special. I look forward to your next one :) Very smart of you to push the patreon with knowledge that there are future episodes, you know how to rope us in ;)
Serenity is an unarmed trading ship. The reavers are heavily armed and totally insane. They either outrun or out maneuver them. You will meet them later. The regular rations that they eat are protein powder (ground up bugs?), you know, what the global elites want us to eat and synthesized meal that will hold a shape. Won't spoil, easy to pack and kind od tastes like whatever artificial flavor you choose. Good reaction you seem to have caught all the points.
First, the series wasn't canceled after the first season. It was canceled after 10 episodes and was intended to be a 22-26 episode season with 5-7 seasons. So there is no actual season finally. Second, The series did not experience a string of unfortunate events that led to its demise. The person who replaced the execute that green-lit Firefly intentionally sabotaged the series so the higher-ups would be okay with it being canceled. > Some things were misleading, including the ADs about the show before it premiered. > Joss was told the 2-hour pilot episode was unacceptable. > Episodes were intentionally aired out of order. > The air slot for the series was changed without notice to the viewers. > They canceled the series after 10 episodes and showed the 2-hour pilot a week or 2 later. 3 episodes were only shown outside the US over the summer. Third, The movie Serenity (2005) is not intended to be a wrap-up of the series. It was designed to continue the story as a movie franchise. > FOX had nothing to do with the movie. Fans raised over $30 million for the film. It isn't really explained in the series the use of Chinese. The Alliance was formed by the US and China is a simple explanation. The usefulness is they do most of their profanity in Chinese to get around the TV censors.
Glad you enjoyed the first episode. It’s a great show. I hope you enjoy the rest, and don’t forget the movie, Serenity, that does help to tie up some loose ends left with the untimely demise of the show.
Welcome to the family! I've seen a lot of reactions to this and I think its shiny that you got all the humor. Automatically subscribe for reactions to this show! Thank you!
The aftermath of what happened after they surrendered was actually the original opening scene, but FOX thought it was too dark to open the series. It is available as an extra on the DVD set and is worth watching. Of course later FOX would decide that they wanted a new opening episode which you will see as episode 2. The Train Job was written over a weekend and had to introduce everyone and build the world setting inside of a standard 1 hour TV time slot. JW still hoped that the pilot would air first so it is set after Serenity, but works to explain who everyone is. I will repeat what others have said and note that Firefly is not one season; it was cancelled after about half a season. So the story arc that had been planned for season one never played out as intended. FOX did not even air all the episodes that were filmed before they cancelled the show. The last episode that aired was the pilot episode.
The in-cannon reason is that Earth's space exploration was done my America and China... so naturally English and Chinese are the two languages that are spoken in space. The show reason was they decided to censor the cussing by cussing in Chinese! :P
Regarding the use of Chinese (specifically Mandarin): At the time of the making of Firefly, (2002) it was generally considered that Chinese was going to become the common or international language of the future, much like English has been the international of the world, since it became dominate over French. This was due to the shear amount of Mandarin speakers in the world. Well, since then, the government of China has made it mandatory for all students (3rd grade and higher) to learn English... which has had the effect of assuring that English will remain the international language for a long time to come. aka. The shows use of Chinese reflected, at least in part, the expectation that Chinese would become the predominate language of the future.
The in-world reason for speaking parts in Chinese was that it was a superpower so when they went to space the two main languages mixed. The IRL reason was that the Chinese language swearing was able to get by network censors. I like that you don't really need to speak it to get the gist of what they're saying in the scene.
Shadowcat, great reaction! Please watch FIREFLY DELETED SCENE #2 on TH-cam. It will answer some of your questions especially Mal and Zoe relationship. It also explains Mal losing his faith in God. I can not understand why they deleted this scene, it explains alot.
Kaylee is just adorable! Inara is WOW she is kind of like a big sister to Kaylee. The censors let it through if they swear in a Chinese language. They say a few other things in that language as well. The idea is that the people of Earth unified before they had to leave. When Mal shoots Dobson he is awake, facing Mal and armed. The fact that he is not pointing his gun at Mal is beside the point. It is a Western, these are frontier worlds. Mal and the others are just trying to get by any way they can, lawful or not. Having a companion aboard opens certain doors for them.
Came here because YT recommended it to me as they know I love me some Firefly. I'll go on this journey with you. All your questions as of right now) will be answered, some blatantly, some you'll have to figure it out.
Another short show I think you would enjoy Shadowcat - Fastlane, with Peter Facinelli (yes, Carlisle Cullen 😉) and Bill Bellamy. It was also one of Fox's one season wonders, but does not have as large or vocal a following as Firefly 😅
I've heard about this show,but didn't catch it when it came out, not far ago a friend of mine recommended it to me, but for some reason i didn't feel like watching it. Funny thing, whe i saw that you started reacting to it, i actually watched it so i would be able to see you react to it without spoiling it for myself) So thanks) And yeah, i loved the show!
Hello my dear. The youtube systems know what my tastes are and that's why they sent me your Firefly reaction. I'm a big fan (a browncoat) and I subscribed. Your reactions and observations were great. In this first episode, even if it wasn't shown first it was filmed first, Nathan Fillion complained to Joss Whedon that his character, Mal, was a little to hard and He would like Mal to be a little softer with a bit of humor. Joss agreed and you will see a bit of change in Mal starting with episode 2. Of course you are up to episode 9 on Patreon so you know what I'm saying. I am looking forward to seeing your reactions to this wonderful but far to short of a show.
The foodstuff they're trading there likely isn't everyday fare for everyone. Its survival rations. They blow past it really quickly - but colonists are mentioned specifically. The Alliance terraforms all these moons to a rough (California-like) approximation of "Earth that was." Now there's a bunch of space for people desperate enough to risk it all to make a go at a new life on a new world. A lot of the tech and commerce (and crime) happening around the outer worlds are directly linked to this colonization endeavor. Parallels to Western Expansion in US history (and thus the Western mythos).
The best thing about reacting to this series is that it is only one season and a movie. The worst thing about reacting to this series is that it is only one season and a movie.
Please understand this was half of a season. It never got a full season so everyone says 1 season are technically wrong. It is half of a season then it was cancelled midway filming
![Watching Firefly for my FIRST TIME [Episode 1 Reaction]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/ZrhjvMwkInY/mqdefault.jpg)
My days of watching Firefly are certainly coming to a middle! We're on episode 9 on Patreon for watch-along AND edited reactions! Watch ahead here: www.patreon.com/shadowcatreacts
Thanks so much for joining me on my first trip on Serenity💖🚀🤠
I’d like to suggest a show that doesn’t get a lot of attention, but I believe people would love if they knew about it. The show is Jericho, starring Skeet Ulrich. Like Firefly, it was cancelled after one season, but fans convinced the producers to make a short second season. There was some hope for a third season but it never materialized. I don’t want to tell you any more about it, so your reaction wouldn’t be spoiled. But I guarantee you’ll love the characters if you give it a chance.
Another reacted, another perspective and another excuse to watch my favorite show.
Appreciated
Once your done and also watched the movie I'd love a talk video on who your fav characters were, plot points, what you thought over all, fav eps!
Also watch Tera Nova another short lived series that was pretty cool
We Browncoats ALWAYS want to see ANYBODY new react to our show... Welcome...
Browncoats for life!✊
Browncoats forever! Keep flying!
Took the words right out of my mouth. 👍
This was such a great series that was murdered way too soon! Browncoats forever!
@@goldenageofdinosaurs7192yasss
"Looking for a short show..." way to twist the knife right out of the gate 😭
My cruelty knows no bounds 😭😭😭
I'll be interested to come back and see how you feel about the series being cancelled after one season. 😁
Any interest in other also way too short but oh so good series?
This Is Going to Hurt
Hannibal
Life
Sense 8
Gentleman Jack
Good Omens
Manchild
The Great
Angels in America
After Life
Fleabag
One Mississippi
Noah's Ark
Our Flag Means Death
@@shadowcatreacts TOO SOON!
@@MareikeMeetsMal Sense8 and Hannibal now that's some damn fine television!
Mal took the measure of Simon by telling him that Kaylee was dead. Simon didn't try to get himself out of trouble, and he didn't try to attack Mal. He ran to try to save his patient. That's a man who can be trusted.
That is an interesting observation, good one!
Or he's just that kind of guy. I think he's just that kind of guy. BUT great rationale. Simon is trustworthy and it did show it.
I would say Mal also thought it would be a great joke. It fits just in line with the dark humor military tends to have
You're just overthinking lol
I had never made that connection. Good call
One thing you'll notice in this franchise. In most cases, Malcolm Reynolds is a decent marksman. But when he gets angry, his shooting is precise, nearly surgical.
I have finally come to the conclusion that after seeing so many people reacting to the Firefly/Serenity series that the Signal cannot be Stopped.
You can never stop the signal. J.
you can never stop the signal.
They weren't allowed to swear on network TV, but the censors only speak english, so all the swearing is in mandarin
The mandarin is mostly swears, but some of it isnt. The logic is that a quarter of the planet speaks it so it got blended in with english in the future.
😮😮
The svd commentary i heard was that when humans left Earth, there were two superpowers, the us and China.
@@rexmundi2986 Which was pretty forwards-thinking for a US TV show at the time it was written. The China we have today isn't the one that was around twenty years ago, although it seemed likely it was going to happen.
Welcome to the 'verse, I can almost guarantee you will be in love with the series, characters and ship (Serenity is an important character). Don't forget the follow-up movie "Serenity "
Subscribed! Just FYI: think of a Companion along the lines of a geisha or courtesan. Sex is part of the job, but they're trained in music, art, politics. They can mingle in upper society.
Exactly. Sex is only part of the job, not even the biggest part. Mainly they're trained to be cultured, refined, witty, charming, and excellent company.
Hi Shadowcat. One of the reasons so many reactors watch Firefly is because even the almighty YT algorithm gets it right occasionally. We Browncoats are very loyal, and because we watch so many reactors discover the show, we get first-timers recommended to us, and well, we watch! If we vibe with you we'll stick around. 😁 We make for a decent boost to subs.
I very much hope you're loving the show, though by now you're in the 'dread zone' "oh no... the end is nigh!".
As I said, Browncoats watch as many reactors as we can find as they discover the crew, and I have to say, you made an absolutely BRILLIANT connection, really really early. When Mal kissed his cross, you were able to clearly connect the world of the show to Earth. I don't think I've seen anyone else make that logic leap so early, or with such intelligent insight.
Looking forward to watching with you.
well said... or rather, shiny!
I always forget how unnecessarily ominous they make Simon at the start.
It's so funny to me now after watching so many reactors watch episode 1 how may times I chuckle at all the similar misconceptions and misunderstandings, and red-herrings they all attach onto.
I love watching people begin their Firefly journeys
I loved it as well!
I watched what episodes Fox TV deigned to broadcast back in the early 2000s, but didn't see the complete, 14-episode, half season show until I bought the DVD set. It gladdens this old Browncoat's heart to see more people boarding "Serenity" for a great ride. In the beginning, Sgt. Malcolm Reynolds was an Independent/Browncoat, fighting against The Alliance, which could be viewed as "The Galactic Empire" of "Star Wars." A Companion is more like a Geisha, part of the Companion Guild. Note: Every time a TH-cam viewer falls in love with "Firefly," a Fox TV executive falls off the Nakatomi Plaza building.
Lol 😂
Starting Buffy yesterday, and Firefly today; we eatin' good.
Always watch Zoe whenever Mal starts talking fast. she's either smirking knowingly or rolling her eyes.Plus, she's the stone killer on the show. Mal and Jayne are fighting men, but Zoe is simply deadly.
A "Crazy Ivan" was a Soviet submarine tactic from the Cold War. US subs were so stealthy that the Russians would frequently do a sudden 180 turn hoping to surprise them.
The exchange between Inara and Book while he's having his crisis of faith is a beautiful example of the deeper "companion skills" that she possesses. The ability to listen, console, and comfort. Beyond the base carnality of the occupation, she presents an experience that is so deep and meaningful (maybe to be a superb performer? Reputation?) based on that ability to "read" a person.
Well said
Space Western is one of the staples of science fiction. Spaceships are analogues of covered wagons, and colonizing a planet had many similarities with settling new territory.
One thing i love about this show is the presence of horses. If you're colonizing a new planet, you can breed horses much faster than you can create vehicle manufacturing plants.
Mal has a heart of gold, just a hard outside!
I see what you did there.
Because a rock feels no pain, and an island never cries.
20:21 “The Shepherd’s got moves!” *YES,* and I think you’re the first/only out of several reactors I’ve watched who noticed that during the confusion, right off the bat.
My all time favorite show. Nothing beats Firefly.
This was a great reaction. New Browncoats everyday
I loved it as well!
"Nobody is going to hurt her." They've already hurt her, "lawman," why do you think she's in that state?
Serenity is a transport ship, no guns!
You did really well with this! The pilot throws a lot at you, and it’s meant to. It makes the world feel established and lived in without a bunch of exposition dumps. :) I’m also happy that you were enjoying the sets - the set designers did an amazing job!
As originally aired, episode 2 was the pilot due to executive meddling. It was a more "actiony" episode but left you more confused about the setup.
I have watched several reactors take on "Firefly." None of them "got" as many major themes and minor background touches of this show as this one. This is going to be great!
OMG! No bummage here. This is my favorite show that never happened! RIP.
I'm not spoiling anything by telling you there is a feature film that ties up most of the loose ends.
The keyword is most. I actually like it that way. I’ve always felt that, when people love a show, they want to tear it apart, till no area of mystery remains. It’s nice to leave some parts unexplored.
@@goldenageofdinosaurs7192 I agree! The fan stories that have become a thing since are just as fun to explore.
If you enjoy the series and want a bit more closure, there is a sequel feature film, Serenity (2005).
I loved it as well!
So glad to see you reacting to Firefly, lovely lady. I think you're really going to enjoy it.
BTS trivia: Jewel Staite ("Kaylee") isn't very fond of strawberries.
This show is so perfect❤ all the characters, the sci-fi/western mashup theme, and running plots are amazing. Make sure to watch Serenity and post it when you’re finished with the season please❤❤❤
Regarding the Chinese, it's just part of the worldbuilding (early 2000s, China was ascendant, so the thinking is that Chinese would be a new lingua franca in the future)... and an excuse to have the characters say things that would otherwise get censored in English.
It's very much a space western, and the whole war/aftermath is meant to be an analogue to the US civil war since that's also a common point of reference/framing for westerns. This, unfortunately, places Mal and company on the 'Southern' side of this particular scenario, but...
Also, I'd be a bad stereotypical Canadian if I didn't point out that two of the main cast are fellow Canucks: Nathan Fillion (Mal) and Jewel Staite (Kaylee).
I've never understood why the best actors in Hollywood are Canadians, but I appreciate it.
Or, it would place them on the American side of the American Revolution. They weren’t fighting for slavery or anything. They were fighting to not be brought into some big, fascist government.
@@goldenageofdinosaurs7192 Except that...western. Like I said, post-civil war setting with civil war veterans as main characters is a long-running western trope. And yeah, they're portrayed as the good guys fighting against an oppressive government, but there are still people in the southern states that think that about the US civil war. Not saying the characters in the show are bad, there are just some unfortunate connections given the use of that particular trope.
@@ArmouredPhalanx
SPOILER for episode 2
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the big distinction here is that the alliance is very much pro-slavery and continues to permit it after their victory.
@@seanmcmurphy4744 I was about to mention the same thing.
Oh hell yes. First Community, now Firefly?
Great choice for a new show.
I loved it as well!
Welcome to THE show! I love note takers, means they’re paying close attention. The dialogue is critical to the story and it’s easy to miss things. Looking forward to more.
Mal kissed the cross. So his later reaction to Book desire to say a prayer is surprising.
Mal kissing the cross is very intentional and fundamental to Malcolm's character arch. Mal is a man who has lost his faith. He no longer accepts any higher authority (God or government) and relies solely on himself and those closest to him.
I can't be the only one telling you about the movie "Serenity." Welcome to the series all reactors must do. Gee, I wonder why. :)
I loved it as well!
Yay! Firefly too! :)
The food was not only concentrated, it is loaded with immunization supplements. Most people aren't eating those, but though who can, probably try to make it last as long as possible, while also eating lower quality protein, and fresh food when they can get it.
The Chinese phrases were an attempt to show that Chinese was the second most common language among the colonists, on the planets in the star system where the show takes place. (They used it more in the pilot, and less later when they realize it's a pian to do it so often.) And they say 'Earth that Was' because Earth got ruined a long time ago, and most humans moved here, to these new planets.
Bit of trivia for you: I recall seeing an interview with (I think?) one of the cinematographers, in which they said they purposely broke a lot of traditional "rules" when filming this. Examples in this episode: @33:48, where Mal's head is not always in frame, panning around into the lens flare, etc. There are also a couple of zooms (one zoom out, centered on Badger as they're leaving, and a zoom in on the Reaver ship when it first appears). One another tidbit, which probably amuses me more than it should. The moment @39:52 when they ignite the interplanetary drive in the atmosphere always calls to my mind the Kzinti Lesson (from an unrelated series of SF books from several decades back): "A reaction drive's efficiency as a weapon is directly proportional to its efficiency as a drive." Or, put another way, "just because this ship has no guns doesn't mean it has no weapons." :)
So glad to see you watching this!
To help with there only being one season and one movie, there's also some funny bloopers for both, and the River Tam Chronicles that were released before the movie.
There's also quite a few official books that help answer some questions not answered by the movie.
Shadowcat, just for clarity's sake, the show wasn't canceled after the first season, it was canceled DURING the first season. It just abruptly stops after Episode 14. There were a number of more episodes planned for the first season.
They pack a lot into this episode.
I love how shockingly bleak the tone becomes for a second when they first introduce the Reavers. It's so graphic and it comes practically from nowhere
I am so excited to see this on your channel. I hope you get enough views to make it worth your while. Or just that you find it interesting enough to keep going.
... "8 feel like there's a lot of names being thrown at me right now."
It's almost like it's the first episode and they're trying to get the world set up so they don't have to spend too much time on it later.
Thank you for doing this series, it awesome and has a great following! Welcome the Browncoats! Don't forget to watch the follow up movie Serenity to close it out!
This is a great show and was cancelled too early in the first season by FOX. Jayne is the muscle of the crew otherwise known as Public Relations. FOX didn't like this pilot so they requested another be made, which is the Train Job.
Unfortunately this series ended unexpectedly, and leaving you with unresolved plots, that is why anyone who watches and loves firefly will have to watch the follow up movie called Serenity, and this helps in resolution of the story.
I loved it as well!
Fantastic! I just finished watching the last reactor finishing the movie, today! I love seeing new people fall in love with the show. It's like discovering the show, all over again, through new eyes!
I really want to answer the questions. But these will be spoilers, and they won't thank me. However, there are some explanations that will not reveal the plot. The Firefly is a cargo ship, and there are no weapons installed on it. Therefore, they will not be able to fight back against the military, mad men or pirates. Of course, not every ship has an companion. It's just that the status of their ship is so low that they won't be allowed into a decent place unless there is at least one socially respected person on board. The most respected person on their ship is the companion.
I'm sure you've been informed by now but the Two Main Superpowers that were able to leave the "Earth-That-Was" were America and China so there is a lot of Chinese influence interwoven where they could while still keeping it understandable for an American audience. When they use a Chinese word or phrase or sentence, it was intentionally designed for audiences to know the "meaning" conveyed even if they don't know the words specifically. It's also a great way to bypass profanity filters.
Glad you're reacting to this series! It's a real delight! Be sure to watch the feature film "Serenity" after watching the 14 episodes, not to be confused with the series pilot. The series was cancelled suddenly, so there were many questions unanswered, no closure, not even a cliff-hanger. But there was enough of a cult following to convince the powers that be to make a follow-up film, which does answer some questions.
The backstory on the bilingual characters is that there were two superpowers on Earth That Was before we left to build colonies: Basically America and China. Everyone speaks both languages, but in practice they switch to Chinese when the dialog gets colorful. This notion carries throughout the production, as shown in the diversity of culture and the use of peculiar combinations of instruments in the musical score.
I glimpsed one of the cards at the end of the video, which was for your reaction to "Buffy the Vampire Slayer". That's interesting because Joss Whedon did that series as well as Firefly. He also did the "Avenger" movies and the "Agents of Shield" series. I hope you watched the original Buffy movie with Rutger Hauer, he was great!
When the series aired live it was aired out of order and the time and day of the week it aired was changed. The characters were introduced in the eighth episode aired. Joss Whedon had a number of storylines in his mind about every character and it would take several years to tell all the storylines but, the series was canceled in the middle of filming the 14th episode. A year or so later all the episodes were put in the correct order and sold as a DVD set. It then became wildly popular. Several years later a movie was made but all the story lines could not be completed in one movie.
It wasn't EVEN a full season - it was cancelled MID-season, gawddammit.
Oof I didn't know that. What a bummer 😩
Sure you don't mean "Gorramit"? 😂
mid-gorram-season!
@@jeffh1266I miss that from the shows of this era, the made up curse words so they could curse and still skip the censors. Firefly had "gorram" (and all the mandarin), Battlestar Galactica had "frak" & Defiance had "shtako".
@@greenpeasuit And Farscape had "frell", along with a dozen more.
It's always nice to see more people discovering this show =)
I loved it as well!
This was the pilot episode and a beautifully constructed introduction to the show and the characters. Fox, of course, refused to show it as the first episode; they didn't run it until after they already had cancelled the show.
Also, if you notice, it's a way to cuss on tv, chinese!
Cool - releasing the start of Buffy and Firefly at he same time. That's so much Whedon! Looking forward to it - I swear almost every time I watch a reactor finish Firefly, another one begins! It's the one season of tv that just never goes away 🙂 (how is there no "space cowboy" emoji?)
This was such a great series with such a great cast, this is one of my 2 favorite sci-fi westerns!
Kaylee is the Princess of Serenity!
This is a D&D party type group!
A couple of world-building details details for you. These aren't ever really explicitly spelled out in the show, so I don't think they constitute spoilers.
This show takes place in undefined distant future, entirely within a single solar system(which is not our current solar system that we now live in). So they're not jumping between different galaxies or anything, it's all just a bunch of planets orbiting the same star. Many of these planets have been terraformed to be habitable for humans, but they aren't all necessarily the greatest places to live. The outer planets tend to be rather barren and inhospitable, while the inner planets are a lot more lush and rich in resources. Unfortunately for our rag-tag crew, the inner planets are also ruled by the oppressive and authoritarian Alliance, which Mal and Zoe fought a losing war against six years prior to the beginning of this show.
The reason characters keep speaking Chinese is that, in this hypothetical future, China and the west grew to be the two biggest superpowers on Earth, and became so intermingled in their culture that almost everyone spoke English and Chinese equally well. The humans that settled this new solar system inherited this same culture from "Earth-that-was", and thus everyone in this show is equally fluent in English and Chinese.
Wow... first the best animated series ever, and now the best Sci/Fi series ever, just a few days apart!
Real explanation for the Chinese is that it's how that got swearing on without offending the censors.
The in universe explanation is that when Earth was abandoned, the US and China were the two dominant world powers that spear headed the migration to "The Verse" which is the name of the star cluster where the show takes place. So most people in the show are at least somewhat bilingual in English and Chinese.
At least two mentions of things being or getting "interesting" is a reference to an old Chinese curse, "May you live in interesting times".
Shiny! I love seeing new Browncoats join the family. Welcome, and enjoy!
The Chinese suggested that a billion Chinese people kept expanding and increasing their influence before people left earth
But not a single Asian main character and almost no one they interact with is either...
Yes!! A new Browncoat in the making! If you're on 9 already, then very soon you will get to the movie. Can't wait to see that reaction!
Howdy :) I like your reaction :) There are very few reactors that have stopped and put that much thought into what people are saying like Zoe when she's talking about the Reavers, or Simon explaining in detail why River is special. I look forward to your next one :) Very smart of you to push the patreon with knowledge that there are future episodes, you know how to rope us in ;)
Serenity is an unarmed trading ship. The reavers are heavily armed and totally insane. They either outrun or out maneuver them. You will meet them later. The regular rations that they eat are protein powder (ground up bugs?), you know, what the global elites want us to eat and synthesized meal that will hold a shape. Won't spoil, easy to pack and kind od tastes like whatever artificial flavor you choose. Good reaction you seem to have caught all the points.
First, the series wasn't canceled after the first season. It was canceled after 10 episodes and was intended to be a 22-26 episode season with 5-7 seasons. So there is no actual season finally.
Second, The series did not experience a string of unfortunate events that led to its demise. The person who replaced the execute that green-lit Firefly intentionally sabotaged the series so the higher-ups would be okay with it being canceled.
> Some things were misleading, including the ADs about the show before it premiered.
> Joss was told the 2-hour pilot episode was unacceptable.
> Episodes were intentionally aired out of order.
> The air slot for the series was changed without notice to the viewers.
> They canceled the series after 10 episodes and showed the 2-hour pilot a week or 2 later. 3 episodes were only shown outside the US over the summer.
Third, The movie Serenity (2005) is not intended to be a wrap-up of the series. It was designed to continue the story as a movie franchise.
> FOX had nothing to do with the movie. Fans raised over $30 million for the film.
It isn't really explained in the series the use of Chinese. The Alliance was formed by the US and China is a simple explanation. The usefulness is they do most of their profanity in Chinese to get around the TV censors.
welcome to the browncoats , also just have hankies ready
Glad you enjoyed the first episode. It’s a great show. I hope you enjoy the rest, and don’t forget the movie, Serenity, that does help to tie up some loose ends left with the untimely demise of the show.
"Don't 😳 love 😳 that 😳 description." 🤣
Welcome to the family! I've seen a lot of reactions to this and I think its shiny that you got all the humor. Automatically subscribe for reactions to this show! Thank you!
The movie Serenity (2005) is the final episode. I'm sure others have said as much already.
The aftermath of what happened after they surrendered was actually the original opening scene, but FOX thought it was too dark to open the series. It is available as an extra on the DVD set and is worth watching. Of course later FOX would decide that they wanted a new opening episode which you will see as episode 2. The Train Job was written over a weekend and had to introduce everyone and build the world setting inside of a standard 1 hour TV time slot. JW still hoped that the pilot would air first so it is set after Serenity, but works to explain who everyone is. I will repeat what others have said and note that Firefly is not one season; it was cancelled after about half a season. So the story arc that had been planned for season one never played out as intended. FOX did not even air all the episodes that were filmed before they cancelled the show. The last episode that aired was the pilot episode.
Woo, Firefly! What a fun ride, can't wait for the rest of the season
After the series ended abruptly the fans asked for the show to continue and the Serenity movie was released to close out the series for fans.
The in-cannon reason is that Earth's space exploration was done my America and China... so naturally English and Chinese are the two languages that are spoken in space. The show reason was they decided to censor the cussing by cussing in Chinese! :P
Look at you takin' notes! Lol. My kinda nerd.
Regarding the use of Chinese (specifically Mandarin): At the time of the making of Firefly, (2002) it was generally considered that Chinese was going to become the common or international language of the future, much like English has been the international of the world, since it became dominate over French. This was due to the shear amount of Mandarin speakers in the world. Well, since then, the government of China has made it mandatory for all students (3rd grade and higher) to learn English... which has had the effect of assuring that English will remain the international language for a long time to come.
aka. The shows use of Chinese reflected, at least in part, the expectation that Chinese would become the predominate language of the future.
The in-world reason for speaking parts in Chinese was that it was a superpower so when they went to space the two main languages mixed. The IRL reason was that the Chinese language swearing was able to get by network censors. I like that you don't really need to speak it to get the gist of what they're saying in the scene.
Shadowcat, great reaction! Please watch FIREFLY DELETED SCENE #2 on TH-cam. It will answer some of your questions especially Mal and Zoe relationship. It also explains Mal losing his faith in God. I can not understand why they deleted this scene, it explains alot.
Kaylee is just adorable! Inara is WOW she is kind of like a big sister to Kaylee.
The censors let it through if they swear in a Chinese language. They say a few other things in that language as well. The idea is that the people of Earth unified before they had to leave.
When Mal shoots Dobson he is awake, facing Mal and armed. The fact that he is not pointing his gun at Mal is beside the point.
It is a Western, these are frontier worlds. Mal and the others are just trying to get by any way they can, lawful or not. Having a companion aboard opens certain doors for them.
I like that you didn't just watch, you paid attention
Good dog as in healthy, disease/parasite free. So safe to eat.
If you want another very short show, I highly recommend Garth Marenghi's Darkplace--only 6 episodes.
The Queen's Gambit is another excellent short series. Also, Russian Doll - it's up to 2 short seasons now but very engaging and mind-bending.
Welcome to the fandom darlin :)
Came here because YT recommended it to me as they know I love me some Firefly. I'll go on this journey with you. All your questions as of right now) will be answered, some blatantly, some you'll have to figure it out.
Another short show I think you would enjoy Shadowcat - Fastlane, with Peter Facinelli (yes, Carlisle Cullen 😉) and Bill Bellamy. It was also one of Fox's one season wonders, but does not have as large or vocal a following as Firefly 😅
I've heard about this show,but didn't catch it when it came out, not far ago a friend of mine recommended it to me, but for some reason i didn't feel like watching it. Funny thing, whe i saw that you started reacting to it, i actually watched it so i would be able to see you react to it without spoiling it for myself)
So thanks) And yeah, i loved the show!
One of.my fave alltime shows. Was very angry when it was cancelled
We were lucky that the creator was able to make a feature film after the series was cancelled which helps a lot.
Aww, now I want to rewatch Firefly!
Really looking forward to your reaction to this. Hope you enjoy it as much as I did.
Hello my dear. The youtube systems know what my tastes are and that's why they sent me your Firefly reaction. I'm a big fan (a browncoat) and I subscribed. Your reactions and observations were great. In this first episode, even if it wasn't shown first it was filmed first, Nathan Fillion complained to Joss Whedon that his character, Mal, was a little to hard and He would like Mal to be a little softer with a bit of humor. Joss agreed and you will see a bit of change in Mal starting with episode 2. Of course you are up to episode 9 on Patreon so you know what I'm saying. I am looking forward to seeing your reactions to this wonderful but far to short of a show.
The foodstuff they're trading there likely isn't everyday fare for everyone. Its survival rations. They blow past it really quickly - but colonists are mentioned specifically. The Alliance terraforms all these moons to a rough (California-like) approximation of "Earth that was." Now there's a bunch of space for people desperate enough to risk it all to make a go at a new life on a new world. A lot of the tech and commerce (and crime) happening around the outer worlds are directly linked to this colonization endeavor.
Parallels to Western Expansion in US history (and thus the Western mythos).
The Chinese is usually swearing. I noticed that the Mandarin was mostly swearing and the Cantonese wasn't usually swearing.
Interesting to learn. Do you have any ideas why?
And this was the last episode aired on fox originally, since they aired it out of order.
Mal and infrastructure are in love, they just don't tell each other.
The best thing about reacting to this series is that it is only one season and a movie.
The worst thing about reacting to this series is that it is only one season and a movie.
Firefly doesn't have enough reactions imo. Looking forward to your series overview 😃
Please understand this was half of a season. It never got a full season so everyone says 1 season are technically wrong. It is half of a season then it was cancelled midway filming