Big Damn Heroics #1 — Firefly: Serenity (the Pilot)

Name

Serenity

Not be confused with Serenity, the major motion picture sequel.

Broadcast Date

20th December 2002

Synopsis

The story follows the crew’s attempts to sell illegal salvage, firstly to Badger, who declines, and later to Patience, who accepts but double-crosses Mal. Along the way Serenity takes on three passengers: Shepherd Book, Simon Tam and Lawrence Dobson. Dobson attempts to arrest Simon, Mal discovers River among Simon luggage. All the while trying to avoid both the Reavers and the Alliance.

Firsts And Lasts

This episode was intended to introduce, in order, Mal, Zoe, the Alliance, Serenity, Jayne, Wash, Kaylee, Blue Sun, the title sequence and song (clips from Serenity and The Train Job), Inara, Inara’s shuttle, Persephone, the Mule, Book, Badger, Dobson, Simon, River and Reavers. First episode written and directed by Joss Whedon.

This episode was ironically first broadcast on the last day of filming after the series cancellation and was the last episode of the original run. The character of Dobson was apparently due to return, but instead makes both his first and last television appearances here.

The Ship

Named Serenity, she is a Firefly Class Transport ship, specifically the Firefly Class 03, which has extenders that prevent a tendency to shake in earlier models. Firefly Class ships are regarded as obsolete by some. Serenity has artificial gravity and visual communication (or ‘vid’), but only at a limited range.

Among the areas of the ship shown are: a bridge, an engine room, an airlock, a cargo bay, the Captain’s room, Kaylee’s room, a dining area & kitchen, an infirmary and a passenger dorm. They don’t have a bathtub. Shuttle 1 (Inara’s shuttle) docks on the starboard side. Serenity’s engine has a press regulator, a port jack control with hydraulics, a steamer and is powered by fuel cells. The steamer needs a new compression coil. The engines at port and starboard move independently of each other and are used for vertical-take-off-or-landing. The ship is capable of a good Crazy Ivan.

Another engine in the rear is meant solely for use in space. This has an amber glow when in use and is probably how this class of ship got its name. Full speed is referred to as hard burn.

The crew eat together. Sit down meals are scheduled and there is one at about 18:00.

They have a mule for carrying cargo.

The crew use a ‘Crybaby’, a device which sends a false signal to distract another ship. Crybaby #6 transmits a signal purporting to be an Alliance Personnel Carrier in distress and with a power failure “thirteen clicks away” from Serenity’s present position. Crybaby #6 is made from a tin that once held something sold by Blue Sun.

They haven’t had a job in weeks. The ship is due to deliver the salvaged cargo to Badger on Persephone and then take on passengers, for appearances sake, bound for Boros. A change in circumstances takes the ship to Whitefall instead. They evade a ship of Reavers.

Serenity requires a new compression coil.

The Crew

Mal

His full name is Malcolm Reynolds.

During the war, he was a sergeant. He fought against the Alliance at Serenity Valley on Hera. He served with Zoe. Mal was a devout Christian (he both wears and kisses a crucifix around his neck).

After the war, Mal captains a Firefly named Serenity, taking jobs carrying passengers and selling stolen salvage. He became a staunch atheist. In a past altercation Patience shot him “a bit”. He is an accomplished horse rider. He can pilot Serenity.

He steals salvage from a derelict transport on a spacewalk with Zoe and Jayne. This is the cargo Badger sent him to retrieve. When Badger declines to purchase it due to its government connections, Mal decides to sell it to Patience. Dobson accuses him of carrying a fugitive across interplanetary borders in the form of Simon. Although he has done this unwittingly, he is proud to be sheltering the Alliance’s most wanted. He is shot in the arm in the conflict with Patience. Mal wants 200 in Platinum for the cargo and after she declines to pay, he shoots her horse and takes the payment.

Zoe

She fought in the war against the Alliance, and alongside Mal on Hera at in the Battle of Serenity Valley (the script specifies her rank as Corporal, although this is never revealed onscreen).

Years later, Zoe serves aboard Serenity. She is married to Wash. She can ride horses.

Zoe spacewalks with Mal and Jayne to steal salvage from a derelict transport. She is shot in the conflict with Patience, but it only dents her body armour. She finds herself in the middle of tension arising from Wash’s insecurities about Mal.

Wash

Mal hired him to serve aboard Serenity as her pilot. Wash is married to Zoe. He plays with toy dinosaurs on the ship’s bridge. Wash pressures Zoe to insist on some time away from Serenity with him. He pulls a Crazy Ivan and goes for hard burn within a planetary atmosphere to escape the Reavers.

Inara

She is a registered Companion. Inara was born on Sihnon. She can pilot a shuttle and rents Serenity’s Shuttle 1 from Mal.

Mal and Wash briefly dub her Serenity’s ‘Ambassador’, as having a Companion aboard often opens doors that would otherwise be closed to Mal. She was busy on Persephone and saw many clients including a young Alliance officer whose father is very influential and he offers to take her “away from all this” as Kaylee puts it. When the Reavers’ ship passes close to Serenity, Inara reaches for a syringe.

Jayne

A mercenary, he serves aboard Serenity as hired muscle. Mal fully expects Jayne to betray him. He steals salvage with Zoe and Mal on a spacewalk to the derelict transport. Mal orders him to interrogate Dobson, who offers him money for his freedom. He is a highly skilled sniper and can ride a horse. Jayne will admit to being scared of Reavers (everyone is scared of Reavers, but this is significant, if Jayne is scared of something the audience is as well).

Kaylee

She is Serenity’s Mechanic. Mal has enough faith in her abilities to stave off buying a new compression coil on the assumption that Kaylee won’t let the old one fail. He also entrusts her to find them some passengers. During his attempted arrest of Simon, Dobson shoots Kaylee in the stomach by accident. Due to the treatment she receives from Simon, she survives.

Simon

Full name: Dr. Simon Tam.

He is River’s brother. Simon studied to be a doctor at the best Medacad on Osiris and graduated in the top three per cent of his class. He finished his internship in eight months and took a job as a trauma surgeon in a hospital in Capital City on Osiris.

Two years ago, Simon got word from his sister that she needed rescuing. He couldn’t get close to her until recently. Simon was approached by an underground movement and he funded them to have River smuggled to Persephone. He is a wanted man. He books passage aboard Serenity to Boros (which is odd, because it is implied that Boros has a strong Alliance presence).

Upon hearing that there is a mole aboard Serenity, Mal immediately assumes that it is Simon and confronts him. Mal dubs Simon, ‘Lord Fauntleroy’. When Kaylee is shot, Simon withholds treatment until he has struck a bargain with Mal in exchange for not handing him over to the Alliance. He treats Kaylee’s wounds and she survives. Simon enters into an uneasy trust with Mal.

River

Full name: River Tam.

She is Simon’s sister. By all accounts, she is a genius. River is an accomplished musician, mathematician, theoretical physicist and dancer among others.

At the age of fourteen, she went to a government sponsored academy. River’s parents had enough money to send her to any school, but she had wanted to go to the government sponsored academy because its program was the most challenging. Initially, she corresponded with her brother, but the letters dried up. Then she got word out to Simon, in code, that they were hurting her. They were conducting experiments on her brain.

Two years later, she was rescued by Simon and smuggled to Persephone in cryo, where he transported her aboard Serenity hidden in cryogenic suspension in a box. River is awakened from cryo a week earlier than intended, when Mal opens Simon’s luggage. Dobson attempts to kidnap her, but Mal shoots him. Simon gives River something to help her sleep.

Book

He is a Shepherd from the South Down Abbey on Persephone. Book has travelled aboard a Firefly before, many years ago. He knows about the components of its engine. Book has never married or fathered any children. He gardened at the Abbey. Being there took him “out of the world, for a spell”.

He pays his way as a passenger aboard Serenity to Boros, although he doesn’t really care where he’s going, with a little money and some strawberries for barter (it seems unlikely that he continues to pay for his passage as the series progresses). Book attempts to mediate the discussion of Simon’s guilt, and after Dobson shoots Kaylee, Book disarms and renders him unconscious. He swears to protect him, however an escaped Dobson knocks him unconscious. Book goes to Inara for benediction.

Baker

He was a Lieutenant during the War of Independence. Baker fought against the Alliance and, more specifically, on Hera at the Battle of Serenity Valley. He was killed during the battle. When a Lieutenant’s authorisation code was required to commit air support during the battle, Mal pulled the authorisation code from Baker’s corpse and ‘promotes’ one of his men to that end.

Bendis

Fought in the Battle of Serenity Valley on Hera, Mal ordered him to provide covering fire while he and Zoe destroy an Alliance Skiff, he fails to and Zoe covers Mal instead. He appears to be suffering from a form of shellshock. He was shot and killed.

Green

He fought on Hera in the Battle of Serenity Valley. He was killed in battle.

Badger

He lives on Persephone, and works near the Eavesdown Docks. Badger sees himself as a businessman. He engaged Mal to steal the cargo. When the bulletin on Serenity comes out and the cargo is discovered to be molecularly government stamped, Badger reneges on the deal with Mal and threatens to give him up to the Alliance. He buys at least one slave.

Patience

She lives on Whitefall and owns about half of it. She has dealt with Mal and Zoe at least once before, during which she shot Mal.

Two-Fry is one of her employees. She is Mal’s second choice to sell the cargo to, but, like Badger, she also reneges on the deal because she has a rule: “I never let go of money I don’t have to”. During the gunfight she uses her horse for cover, Mal kills her horse and traps her underneath it. He takes the money, but he lets Patience live.

Two-Fry

He lives on Whitefall and works for Patience. Two-Fry wears a distinctive top hat and carries a formidable rifle. According to Patience, he always makes a kill “quick and clean”.

Jayne shoots a hole in Two-Fry’s hat with a sniper rifle. He is later killed when Jayne shoots a hole in Two-Fry as well.

Dobson

Full name: Lawrence Dobson.

He is an Alliance Federal agent. While in pursuit of Simon he goes undercover and boards Serenity as a passenger. During his attempt to arrest Simon he accidentally shoots Kaylee. Jayne ties him up and interrogates him, but he escapes, attacks Book and attempts to kidnap River. Mal shoots him in the face and leaves him for dead on Whitefall.

Horowitz

Has traded with Serenity before, but according to Mal he won’t be able afford this cargo.

The Holden Boys

They have traded with Serenity before, but according to Mal they wouldn’t touch this cargo.

The Capshaws

They have traded with Serenity before, but according to Mal they are ‘brain blown’.

Gruviek

He has traded with Serenity before, but was killed when his town was hit by Reavers.

The ‘verse:

Humanity has left Earth. It’s not clear whether they left in a hurry but they have taken horses, chickens, dogs and apparently mosquitoes with them. Planets have been altered, a process called terraforming, to be as close to Earth-That-Was as possible. Once the gravity and atmosphere are suitable the planets are settled.

The Central Planets are developed worlds, they are more prosperous than those further out. The Alliance has a stronger hold on these planets.

The Border Planets are further out than the Central Planets and were often settled with limited resources. The Alliance presence gets weaker the further out you go.

Named planets include Sihnon, Osiris, Londinium and Athens, while Whitefall is one of Athens’ moons.

Sihnon is presumably one of the Central Planets. It is more crowded than Persephone, and had a settlement known as The Great City that is apparently too beautiful to capture in pictures. Inara describes it as an “ocean of light”.

Osiris is presumably also one of the Central Planets. One settlement is known as Capital City. It has more than one Medacad.

Boros is presumably another of the Central planets. It has a heavy Alliance presence and is considered respectable.

Persephone is a planet, relatively close to Whitefall (and therefore Athens as well) and less crowded than Sihnon. The planet’s major settlement is a city that boasts many high-rise buildings, a railway system that winds its way between them and an Alliance presence. Locations include: the Eavesdown Docks, which is not a glamorous part of town and among the available cuisine is a stall cooking dogmeat. The South Down Abbey is a monastery and it has a garden.

Hera is a planet. Locations include: Serenity Valley.

Londinium is presumably a planet.

Athens is a border planet with at least four moons, one of which is Whitefall.

Whitefall is the fourth moon of Athens. It is relatively close to Persephone. There is at least one town. Patience lives there and owns half of it.

There is too much interference for the Cortex signal to reach Whitefall.

The Outer Rings is a space phenomenon of some description, the Rim is presumably the outer edge of humanity’s new home. The Scrapbelt is presumably a belt of drifting wrecked ships.

Those that didn’t wish to be ruled centrally fought a war for independence and lost. Notable among the conflicts was the Battle of Serenity Valley. The Alliance claimed they would ‘waltz’ through Serenity Valley, instead their enemies held it against amazing odds. The crucial air support was not deployed and they were ordered to surrender. The Alliance Skiff airborne units arrived instead. The Alliance was victorious.

The Alliance is the governing body of the planets that humanity has settled, although stronger in the Central Planets than those of the Border Worlds. It has its own armed forces, police force and federal agents. Among the vessels in the Alliance fleet are Cruisers, Gunships and Personnel Carriers.

Alliance Cruisers are large ‘mothership’ space vessels. They hold a complement of Gunships aboard. Cruisers include the I.A.V. “Dortmunder” (It’s not made explicit what I.A.V. stands for but Alliance Vessel is probably a safe bet for the latter two letters). Alliance Gunships are an armed space vessel. They are used to escort other vessels into the hold of a cruiser. Alliance Personnel Carriers are big Alliance ships with a large contingent of troops aboard.

The enemies of the Alliance in the War of Independence employed both ground forces and air support. They also used the UA 57-D Ground Sentry, a static gun platform emplacement on Hera at Serenity Valley. It fires 12 mm tip bullets. As a ground-to-air weapon, it could penetrate the hull of an Alliance Skiff. The 82nd was a division of air support not deployed at Serenity Valley after their command decides the situation is too dangerous.

There are interplanetary borders that define different areas of space.

A Shepherd is a minister of the Christian Church.

Prostitution has not only been legalised, it has been institutionalised. Companions charge clients for sexual encounters. They are well respected members of society (Mal says “There’s plenty of planets won’t even let you dock without a decent Companion on board”, which doesn’t quite fit with what we see later). Companions have access to a standard immunisation package.

Everyone seems to be able to speak Chinese.

Reavers are rumoured to be men gone savage on the edge of space that kill. They are known to rape their victims, sometimes to death. They commit acts of cannibalism and wear their victims skins as clothing. They hit Gruvick’s town and burned it to the ground. They often operate ships without core containment and are therefore exposed to fatally high levels of radiation. They are pushing out further from Reaver territory every year.

The Cortex is the information network used by computers and communications on Alliance worlds. The signal doesn’t reach as far as Whitefall.

Interpol is a police force (there are police officers on Persephone).

Blue Sun is a corporation whose logo appears on coffee tins and cargo containers.

The Orion Cruiseline is a travel company, which operates a route from Persephone to the outer rings, among its vessels is the Brutus.

Dietary needs are mostly filled with protein substitutes. A-Grade foodstuffs are a mix of protein, vitamins and immunization supplements. Each bar could feed a family for a month. It can be molecularly imprinted with a government stamp as a measure to prevent theft. Fresh strawberries are considered a real treat.

The Bulletin is posted on digital paper. A single sheet can contain a wealth of information which scrolls across it.

Medacad is short for Medical Academy.

A Trans-U is an old ship, considered obsolete. A modified Trans-U is used by the Reavers, it is equipped with a magnetic grappler.

Platinum is a currency.

Continuity

None, obviously. Unless of course you watched these on broadcast and therefore in the wrong order where this would have been the eleventh episode.

Deaths

14 humans and 1 horse die onscreen. Many dead litter Serenity Valley, including Lieutenant Baker & Green on the Independent side; two troops cut down an Alliance gunship, one killed in an explosion; Mal kills two Alliance troopers, and using a ground sentry gun destroys an Alliance gunship, Bendis is killed by an Alliance bullet;

Jayne shoots Two-Fry with a sniper rifle, Mal, Zoe and Jayne kill at least 5 of Patience’s other crew and her horse; Mal apparently shoots Dobson dead (or does he?, see Retrospect).

Best Lines

Mal: “We’ve done the impossible, and that makes us mighty.”

Wash’s Toy Stegosaurus: “Yes. Yes, this is a fertile land, and we will thrive. We will rule over all this land, and we will call it… ‘This Land.’”

Wash’s Toy Allosaurus: “I think we should call it ‘your grave!’”

Wash’s Toy Stegosaurus: “Ah, curse your sudden, but inevitable, betrayal!”

Wash’s Toy Allosaurus: “Ha ha ha! Mine is an evil laugh! Now die!”

(the Allosaurus attacks the Stegosaurus)

Wash’s Toy Stegosaurus: “Oh, no, God! Oh, dear God in heaven!”

Kaylee (plunged into darkness): “Okay, now I can’t get down”

Book: Captain, do you mind if I say grace?

Mal: Only if you say it out loud.

Mal: “I’m thinkin’ Whitefall, maybe talk to Patience.”

Zoe: “Sir, we don’t wanna deal with Patience again.”

Mal: “Why not?”

Zoe: “She shot you.”

Mal: “Well, yeah. She did a bit. Still…”

Zoe: “You never heard of Reavers?”

Simon: “Campfire stories: men gone savage on the edge of space, killing…”

Zoe: “They’re not stories.”

Simon: “What happens if they board us?”

Zoe: “If they take the ship, they’ll rape us to death, eat our flesh and sew our skins into their clothing. And if we’re very, very lucky, they’ll do it in that order.”

Zoe (to Mal): “Sir? I like you to take the helm, please. I need this man to tear all my clothes off.”

Wash: “Work, work, work…”

Catchphrases

Here’s a glossary of terms used in the ‘verse.

Backberth — Retard

The Feds — The Alliance

Gorram — Goddamn

Humped — F**ked

Rabbiting — Fleeing

Rut — F**k

Rutting — F**king

Shiny — Nice (x2), good

The ‘verse — The Universe

Pop Culture

Bendis is named after comics writer Brian Michael Bendis. The Weyland-Yutani logo is seen in the gunsight of the ground sentry gun that Mal uses at Serenity Valley, Weyland-Yutani is ‘the company’ in the first three Alien films and is also referenced in the Angel episode, Harm’s Way. Serenity’s appearance recalls the bulk freighter from the Doctor Who story Warriors’ Gate (1980). “Cry Baby Cry, make your mother sigh” is a lyric from ‘Cry Baby Cry’, a song by The Beatles from their 1968 self titled album which became known as The White Album. A ‘Crazy Ivan’ was US Navy slang for a manoeuvre that Soviet submarines employed: a sudden turn to be able to use sonar to the aft of the vessel and check that it isn’t being followed. The Emperor’s shuttle from Return Of The Jedi (1983) is seen in Persephone’s skies when Inara docks her shuttle with Serenity. Boros was the name of a planet featured in Titan A.E. also written by Joss Whedon. The first sight we get of Simon resembles a young Herr Flick from ‘Allo ‘Allo. Mal calls Simon Little “Lord Fauntleroy”, after the 1885 novel by Frances Hodgson Burnett.

Mistakes

In the teaser, the ‘sticky’ that Mal uses to melt the derelict ship’s lock is visible in a shot before he applies it.

Shortly after Serenity arrives at the Eavesdown Docks as Wash drives the mule down the ramp, a crew member is seen behind him running for cover, presumably after giving him a push. Then after his conversation with Zoe, a back gloved hand reaches into shot to pull it out.

When Mal punches Simon after he asks “What business is that, exactly? I’m a dead man I can’t know?” as Simon falls, a pair of hands reach up to catch him.

Following the Crazy Ivan, we cut to a scene of Wash in profile on the bridge with hand outstretched as if steering, but he is not holding anything at all. I don’t mind admitting I didn’t notice this myself. I heard it on the DVD director’s commentary, but once it’s been pointed you can’t ignore it. Sorry.

Music

The Firefly Original Soundtrack CD features several tracks from this episode:

1. ‘Firefly — Main Title’ (0:52)

4. ‘Whitefall’ (2:20)

14. Inara’s Suite’ (3:29)

17. ‘Tears’ (1:59)

21. ‘Reavers’ (2:55)

22. ‘Reavers Chase Serenity’ (3:22)

Although a number of them have been edited into longer pieces with music from other episodes.

The closing theme is different to that of all the other episodes, it’s an instrumental version of the beginning of the ‘Ballad Of Serenity’, while the others use an instrumental version of the end the same tune.

Retrospect

Kaylee asks Inara how many of her clients offered to take her away from all this, she gets another such offer in Shindig. Badger has a convoluted apparatus for peeling apples, which reflects how he eats one in Shindig and a habit shared by Mal & Zoe in War Stories. Kaylee likes her strawberries, but makes a bit more fuss about them here, than in Shindig. Mal breaks his own advice about killing horses from Heart Of Gold. Mal is expecting the day when Jayne turns on him when the money is too good not to, Ariel is that day. Despite receiving a bullet to the face, Dobson returns in the comic book, Those Left Behind. Simon tells the others that he paid others to rescue River, but the movie shows different. Elsewhere in the series, the Alliance’s enemies are referred to as the Independents or Browncoats, but neither term is used in the pilot.

Credits

Nathan Fillion (Mal) played the other Private Ryan in Saving Private Ryan (1998), appeared in the films Blast From The Past (1999), Dracula 2000 (2000), Slither (2006), Much Ado About Nothing (2012), Monsters University (2012), Cars 3 (2017). On television, Fillion appeared in episodes of Spin City (1996), The Outer Limits (1999), King Of The Hill (2001), Buffy the Vampire Slayer (2003), Lost (2006), Robot Chicken (2007), Desperate Housewives (2007), The Venture Bros (2010), Community (2014) and was a regular on Two Guys, A Girl And A Pizza Place (1998), Drive (2007), Castle (2009) and The Rookie (2018). Online, he was seen in Dr Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog (2008), The Guild (2011), Husbands (2011) and Con Man (2015).

Joss Whedon coined the phrase ‘hat-trick’ for those actors who had appeared in Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel and Firefly. Andy Umberger (Captain of the Dortmunder) is the first of these hat-tricks. He previously played D’Hoffryn in four episodes of Buffy (Dopplegangland, Something Blue, Hell’s Bells & Selfless) and Ronald Meltzer in Angel’s I Fall To Pieces. Umberger has also appeared in episodes of ER, The West Wing, 24 and Mad Men.

Carlos Jacott (Dobson) is the second, having played Ken in Buffy’s third season opener Anne and Richard Straley In Angel’s The Bachelor Party. Elsewhere Jacott played Ramon The Pool Guy in two episodes of Seinfeld, Larry the Agent in Being John Malkovich and as Jack Wilde in every episode of the first season of She Spies. Following his appearance on Firefly, he went on to feature as Ron in Studio 60 On The Sunset Strip.

Mark A. Sheppard (Badger) starred as CJ Yates in Soldiers Of Fortune Inc’s first season and has appeared in episodes of The X-Files, Sliders, Star Trek: Voyager, Monk, 24 and the remakes of The Bionic Woman and Battlestar Galactica. He has since been seen in Dollhouse, again for Joss Whedon, and Doctor Who.

Eddie Adams (Bendis) had previously appeared in Tim Burton’s Planet Of The Apes and Austin Powers in Goldmember.

Colin Patrick Lynch (Radio Operator) previously appeared in Angel as a beat cop in Sense & Sensitivity, and interestingly went on to appear in Serenity The Movie (2005) as a Black Room Soldier, but it can’t be the same character as his radio operator kicks the bucket here.

Bonnie Bartlett (Patience) is best known as Grace Edwards in Little House On The Prairie and Ellen Craig in St. Elsewhere. She also appeared in episodes of seaQuest DSV, Stargate SG-1, Boston Legal, Parks And Recreation and Better Call Saul.

Joss Whedon (creator, writer & director) wrote four episodes of Roseanne (1989) and three of Parenthood (1990), before writing Buffy the Vampire Slayer as a movie (1992). He worked as a script doctor on The Getaway (1994), Speed (1994), The Quick And The Dead (1995), Waterworld (1995) and Twister (1996). Whedon turned Buffy into a hit TV show in 1997 and created Angel (1999), Dollhouse (2009) and Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (2013). He wrote (or rewrote) Toy Story (1995), Alien: Resurrection (1997), X-Men (2000), Titan AE (2000), Atlantis: The Lost Empire (2001) and The Cabin In The Woods (2012), In Your Eyes (2014). He wrote and directed Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog (2008), The Avengers (2012), Much Ado About Nothing (2012), Avengers Age Of Ultron (2015) and Justice League (2017) after Zack Snyder was forced to leave the project. Regarding Firefly he created the series, directed three episodes and wrote five. He wrote, directed and appeared in the follow up Serenity (2005) as well as The R. Tam Sessions (2005), the online videos released to promote it.

Impact

Serenity won the 2003 Emmy Award for Outstanding Special Visual Effects for a Series, beating off competition from Chosen, the last episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and three episodes of Enterprise (The Crossing, Dead Stop and The Expanse). The episode also won the 2003 Visual Effects Society Award for Best Visual Effects In A Television Series and was nominated for Best compositing in a televised program, music video, or commercial, but lost to Dinotopia. It was nominated for the 2003 Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form alongside the Angel episode, Waiting In The Wings (which features Summer Glau) and two episodes of Enterprise (Carbon Creek and A Night In Sickbay), all of which were beaten by Buffy’s Conversations With Dead People. Firefly’s pilot was also nominated for the 2003 Motion Picture Sound Editors, USA, ‘Golden Reel Award’ for Best Sound Editing in Television Long Form: Sound Effects/Foley, but was beaten by Taken.

Review

Serenity is wonderfully written and beautifully directed. The pilot episode does a wonderful job of introducing our nine main characters and the cast are fantastic throughout. The relationships between them feel realistic and three dimensional right from the start. Everything works on an emotional level and so the stakes are higher. We care, because people that we care about, care.

The opening teaser provides us with a great metaphor for the life of Malcolm Reynolds. He uses the ground sentry gun to destroy an Alliance gunship, but the wreckage almost kills him. Then he is let down by his superiors who deny him the air support he so badly needs. He’s a working class hero let down by everything that he should have been able to rely on.

We learn relatively little about Zoe, but her relationships with all the other characters are well drawn from the beginning and Gina Torres is never less than magnificent in the role. Being with Mal before and after the battle of Serenity Valley, she really anchors this first episode.

The ensemble cast are superb. Alan Tudyk’s Wash is immensely entertaining from the get go. Morena Bacharin plays Inara with such grace and poise. Adam Baldwin plays Jayne with more calculating menace than in later episodes.

I didn’t buy Simon as the villain of the piece, but I was completely taken in by Carlos Jacott’s bumbling for no less than the third time in a Joss Whedon show (see his section of the Credits). Kaylee’s ‘death’ also had me fooled, since Joss Whedon is the man who killed off Jesse, an entirely plausible member of the Scooby Gang, in Buffy’s first episode and Angel’s pilot concerned his failure to save the damsel in distress. It seemed so plausible that he would make us fall in love with her and then take her from us.

Like Simon, Book is hiding in plain sight, but it’s a more convincing persona, it’s compelling to watch Jayne think he sees through it. It’s interesting, given how important River’s story is the rest of the series and the movie, how little we get to know her here.

The world building is an exquisite balance between what we need to know to be able to understand what’s going on and tantalising glimpses that imply things about life in the ‘verse without spelling them out. The balance between the science fiction and the western leans more toward the western here than in most of the other episodes. The revelation that the molecularly imprinted 'gold bars' are edible is a brilliant underlining of what's really important here and superbly serves both the western and the science fiction in equal measure.

It’s astonishing that this episode wasn’t shown first and as good as The Train Job is, how confusing must it have been to have the girl in the box imagery that was used so heavily in the promotion of the series not appear in the first episode shown. Choosing not to open with an episode that sets up the character of Mal and the dynamic between the characters and their place in the world was also a bizarre move.

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