Do not adjust your web browser. You are now entering the Retro Squad, where we are reviewing past episodes of your favorite shows, in order, every week.
(S01E11/S01E12) When I decided to go the route of reviewing the 'Serenity' episodes before 'The Train Job', I wasn't quite sure what Firefly purists would think. Most fans of the series know that Joss Whedon had originally pitched this two-parter to FOX as what would kick off the series, but the execs disagreed. They thought it wasn't the right kind of thing that would draw viewers in for following weeks, so 'The Train Job' was aired first, shuffling off the 'Serenity' episodes well into the season, right before it got canceled.
So, why am I not starting with 'The Train Job'? Because, my friends, this is how the series should have started. This is what makes sense. This is what Joss envisioned as what would start his beloved series, and I can see why. I mean, who introduces characters at the end of the series?
Rather than thrown into the thick of things, meeting characters we know nothing at all about nor how they were brought together, these episodes show how it all began. To those of you who had seen the movie before ever catching the series, first of all, shame on you. Secondly, you shouldn't go into these episodes thinking the movie was a continuation of what happened in the series. Off the top of my head, there are notable changes, such as Simon and River being introduced borught about differently in the movie, while Book is on some other planet, having already known Mal for a long time.
The differences between the movie and the series aren't at all something to complain about. Joss did the right thing in making a movie that both fans of the series and newcomers would enjoy, and he obviously succeeded. But enough about the movie.
What we learn in the opening sequence helps us understand Mal's discontent with the Alliance, something that in other episodes will be touched upon every so often though little (if ever) depicted like this.
Obviously what we come to learn is that everyone on the ship has a reason to hate the Alliance. They're brought together with different purposes in mind, but in the end they all hate and/or fear the Alliance and their hulking ships that threaten each of them in different ways. It's this hatred and fear that Simon and River have for the Alliance that helps Mal in deciding to keep them on board for the long term, even if they might mean more trouble for him.
What really struck me about this show was some of the details put into it to make sci-fi geeks squeal in delight. There is no sound in space, and that's just what you get on Firefly. Being a "companion" is something not commonly looked down upon. It also makes sense that people on these terraformed planets and moons are left with the bare essentials, left to live the lives of those from the late 1800's; the Alliance is evil and the universe isn't rich enough to make everyone live the life of kings.
I also liked how the Reavers were brought into the story in these episodes. We're left with a lot of mystery as to who or what these creatures are, only knowing they are definitely more frightening to everyone than the Alliance. And the escape sequence toward the end of the episodes? Just plain "wow."
Next week, we'll pick up where the show really started out, and we can see how strange it would be now knowing what we know from these two episodes. Then you can tell me if you thought the networks were right in airing that episode first.
Jayne-ism of the episode:
"The only fluid I see here is a puddle of piss refusing to pay our wage!"
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
6-02-2006 @ 12:06PM
Will said...
"Secondly, you shouldn't go into these episodes thinking the movie was a continuation of what happened in the series. Off the top of my head, there are notable changes, such as Simon and River being introduced in the movie, while Book is on some other planet, having already known Mal for a long time."
I'm not sure sure I can agree with that statement. Serenity certainly is a continuation of Firefly. Simon and River were not introduced in Serenity, the details of Simon's rescue of River were shown for the first time. It also seems that the Shepard left the ship to live on that planet after travelling with Mal's crew for a while. There is also a comic book mini-series name Serenity which bridges the gap between the show and the movie, like explaining what happened to the "two by two hands of blue" that River mentioned a couple of times.
Back on topic, starting with the episodes "Serenity Part 1 and 2" is the right way to go. The story of her crew can't be told properly if you don't start there.
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6-02-2006 @ 12:10PM
Lampbane said...
What the hell are you talking about? Simon and River weren't introduced in the movie, it was pretty clear they'd been on the ship a while. What did break from the series was Mal being a dick to them again, even after coming to accept their presence on the series.
Additionally, I thought that the movie was set some time after the series, thus explaining Shepherd Book's departure.
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6-02-2006 @ 12:15PM
gawaine said...
I agree with Lampbane - while the movie showed River's breakout, this was a flashback, not something current. They were involved in an operation as soon as the flashback ended, not being newly introduced. There may have been breaks from the movie, but that wasn't one of them.
On his behavior, I thought the movie's implication was that Mac was kind of lonely, given that he was pining after the one that got away, and that he'd started being more of a dick to everyone.
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6-02-2006 @ 12:37PM
doc said...
I'll be the one saying that you should have started with The Train Job. The series works just fine that way. I find the claims that things are too hard to understand, or that the series is somehow diminished laughable. How can it be such a great series, yet somehow crumble when viewed out of order? Also, this is retro TVSquad, and back in the day we were all about seeing The Train Job first. Speaking of viewing order...you said:
"To those of you who had seen the movie before ever catching the series, first of all, shame on you."
to which I would add...To those of you that saw the show on DVD instead of when it was originally broadcast, shame on you.
And since you brought it up:
"The differences between the movie and the series aren't at all something to complain about. Joss did the right thing in making a movie that both fans of the series and newcomers would enjoy, and he obviously succeeded."
I'll disagree here. There are plenty of issues with the difference between the movie and the series to complain about. And I think you hit on the root cause. In trying to make a movie that both fans of the series and newcomers would enjoy, Joss Whedon managed to make a movie that I think suffered in both endeavors.
If you want to make a movie for the fans, you can't go pissing all over what was already known in the series. And the new section where suddenly Simon is secret agent man busing River out flies in the face of everything we learned in the series. He paid someone to smuggle her out in cryo, and hadn't seen her until Mal kicked the box open. Aside from that, if he already knew all the things the Operative was telling him, why did he suddenly forget it all in the series?
So, if you are going to do that and the movie is for newcomers, then the Wash death falls flat. It was a shocking moment for long time fans. The day it was released I actually got an IM from one of my Firefly pals and she was almost hysterical after having seen that. However, people that knew nothing of the series that I saw the movie with had more of a red-shirt on Star Trek reaction to Wash being killed. Whedon didn't put in the time developing the character of Wash in the movie to make it mean anything that he killed him. In order for the scene to work, you have to have seen the series and become invested in Wash.
So, like you said, enough about the movie. Personally, I don't consider it a part of the Firefly universe, and given that this is all retro and whatnot, lets go back to the happy times before it was even an idea.
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6-02-2006 @ 1:49PM
Dk said...
Well I didn't see Firefly until after I borrowed the Serenity DVD and watched it. So double shaem on me. I went out the next day and bought the FF DVDs (that's how good the movie was to a newbie). I think Serenity Movie is a perfect continuation to the series. Doc is wrong! Surely after all that time spent with Serenity's crew Simon would have gained the knowledge and courage to pull off rescuing his sister. After all he spent his "entire fortune" to smuggle her out in the beginning of FF and any devotee to the series saw how Joss developed Simon's character into more of a "criminal mind" (watch the Ariel episode). Clearly Book and Mal are old friends in the movie and everybody welcomes Inara back to the ship missing their dear old friend. The FF DVDs play the episodes in their correct sequence and I highly recommend viewing them that way. For anyone that wants to tie the movie and series together, the comics mentioned in Will's post are the way to go.
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6-02-2006 @ 1:58PM
Akbar Fazil said...
Firefly fan here myself. Saw the series when it aired. Bought the DVDs the day they came out. Bought the series a few more times for gifts. However, I refuse to call myself a "browncoat," those people piss me off.
Saw the movie on opening day and guess what, I HATED IT. Cliched plot, terrible continutity changes from the series and the two deaths were WORTHLESS and only present for shock value. I agree with Doc, Serenity DOES NOT belong in the real Firefly 'verse.
Joss had a chance to make a new Star Wars with Serenity, instead he made Return of the Jedi and took a shit on those of who believed in the show. To those of you who were fans of the show and like the film, you are mindless sheep in my opinion.
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6-02-2006 @ 2:59PM
Dorv said...
Come on!!! First, the only major continuity change in the from the TV show to the movie were the details of River's escape. And, after having seen the backstory created in the Movie, you could read the story in 'Serenity 1 & 2' to fit that storyline.
As far as everything else, time as passed. The Sheppard has moved on. Inara moved off of the ship (Which, BTW, was always the event that I attributed Mal's slight change of attitude).
I was one of the DVD converts. I'd been a casual Buffy fan, found Angel in syndication (Never liked the charater on Buffy, didn't think I'd like him on his own show... However, after I started watching it on TNT, I ended up picking up all of the Angel DVDs in the course of about eight weeks). Loved the Series, love the Movie.
But on to actually commenting about "this week's" episode:
Instantly, Kaylee became my favorite character on the show (Anyone want to guess my favorite Buffy/Angel characters? Would it be... Willow and Fred? Yerp (though not as much Willow as Anya and Tara in the end). I was so pissed, as I feel for the practical joke on Simon as well.
My favorite Jayne line? "10 percent of nothing is...let me do the math. Nothing into nothing, carry the nothing..."
Never 'loved' Zoe and Wash until 'War Stories' but Wash's scene with the dinosaurs was great.
Cancelling this show was a greek tragedy, IMHO. I want to know Book's backstory, and I sure as hell want to know what was in Inara's vial of black liquid.
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6-02-2006 @ 3:01PM
Dorv said...
Come on!!! First, the only major continuity change in the from the TV show to the movie were the details of River's escape. And, after having seen the backstory created in the Movie, you could read the story in 'Serenity 1 & 2' to fit that storyline.
As far as everything else, time as passed. The Sheppard has moved on. Inara moved off of the ship (Which, BTW, was always the event that I attributed Mal's slight change of attitude).
I was one of the DVD converts. I'd been a casual Buffy fan, found Angel in syndication (Never liked the charater on Buffy, didn't think I'd like him on his own show... However, after I started watching it on TNT, I ended up picking up all of the Angel DVDs in the course of about eight weeks). Loved the Series, love the Movie.
But on to actually commenting about "this week's" episode:
Instantly, Kaylee became my favorite character on the show (Anyone want to guess my favorite Buffy/Angel characters? Would it be... Willow and Fred? Yerp (though not as much Willow as Anya and Tara in the end). I was so pissed, as I feel for the practical joke on Simon as well.
My favorite Jayne line? "10 percent of nothing is...let me do the math. Nothing into nothing, carry the nothing..."
Never 'loved' Zoe and Wash until 'War Stories' but Wash's scene with the dinosaurs was great.
Cancelling this show was a greek tragedy, IMHO. I want to know Book's backstory, and I sure as hell want to know what was in Inara's vial of black liquid.
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6-02-2006 @ 5:01PM
Akbar Fazil said...
Hey Dorv, I dont know how you can possibly think you can read Simon sneaking into the facility, rescuing river himself, knowing a password to stop her from being a berzerker and being told what they did to her against the series saying (paraphrased)
-"I paid people to get her out"
-"I know nothing of what they did to her so lets sneak her into a hospital so I can scan her"
-"My sister an assassin? No way."
-and the many other things in the series that blatently contradict the movie.
again, you people are sheep for thinking Joss can do no wrong.
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6-02-2006 @ 6:33PM
Dorv said...
Akbar...
Fair enough.
But, I think us "sheep" are sick of being attacked for liking what we like.
Furthermore, I'm no sheep. Did you see the first season of Buffy?
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6-02-2006 @ 7:12PM
Akbar Fazil said...
awww, did I go and hurt your feelings?
Buffy? Not my kind of show so I can't say that I ever watched it faithfully. I appreciated its presence and enjoyed a few random episodes my friends had me watch.
Are you trying to state that you are not a sheep since you feel the first season of a untried concept in US tv was not good and had to find its footing?
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6-02-2006 @ 7:53PM
Dorv said...
Yeah...
So, at this point, the length of this conversation is way out of proportion with my interest in it.
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6-03-2006 @ 4:45AM
Simon Wakefield said...
imho I'm not completly sure that the movie does lack continuity.
For starters the movies 6 months after the end of the series. Inara has left the ship and Mal is bitter about that and he seems alot more guarded. He certainly seems to be a little harsher with most of the crew than he was in the series. This isnt however a continuity problem, people change over time due to circumstances
As for Simon rescuing River. Yes Simon said he paid someone and in the movie its clear he has help so just because he was involved more than he said he was doesnt mean that the continuity is wrong. In the Series he doesnt trust the crew epecially early on and its certainly in his favour to downplay his role. We do however see in Ariel that hes picked up some skills which more than suggest hes capable of pulling it off. I think if the series had gone on we would have found out he was moe involved than he originally said.
As for being told whats wrong with River, again he doesnt trust the Serenity Crew and the concept is a scary one. Just because he hasnt told them he knows and just because he want to find out medically whats been done rather than just going on what he was told doesnt mean continuity has bee broken
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6-03-2006 @ 11:50PM
Horovits said...
Two points:
1) Firefly purists are just fine with “Serenity” (the TV episode) being shown before “The Train Job”, in fact we prefer it that way. The order of the episodes as originally aired was chosen so the series would make some sense even though “Serenity” had not aired; when the original pilot is available, watch the show in the order on the DVD. IIRC, when SciFi Channel showed Firefly, they used the DVD order.
2. (This one to Akbar) Joss did a pretty good job of eliminating contradictions between what we *see* in the series and in the film. There’s nothing to say Simon was telling the truth in the series, though…
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6-05-2006 @ 10:16PM
doc said...
Horovits, I think you and I have differing definitions of what a Firefly purist is. To me, a Firefly purist is someone who is a fan of the TV show Firefly, period. The purist doesn't give a crap about Joss Whedon, the boards, or any of the ancillary junk that comes along with the community aspect of fandom. I would categorize you as a 'browncoat'. In my mind, there is a big difference. Feel free to disagree.
As to the Lucasian revisionist history people want to tap into in order to avoid pointing out that the almighty Joss just might have dropped the ball, I'm still not buying it. The idea that Simon wasn't telling them the truth about the breakout because he was scared and didn't trust them could theoretically plug the gaping continuity hole, but if you go back to the series, it really doesn't hold up. If he was really so scared and not trusting of these people, why would he tell them his real name, River's real name, that he's a doctor from Osiris, that she's a scary genius he just busted out of the Alliance klink, etc.? That is all more than enough information for them to sell him out with, if they were going to. Knowing whether or not he actually pulled the job off himself is of no matter.
So, if you really want to go on thinking that he was just telling a fib about that business, go ahead, but make sure you add in, 'and by the way, it was the most ham-handed attempt at subterfuge of ever'.
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6-06-2006 @ 1:11AM
Dorv said...
At the end of the day, the man made a conscious choice to make the change.
I can enjoy my DVDs of the TV Show, and I can enjoy my DVD of the Movie. I can enjoy them both as one set of canon if I ignore some continuity screw ups.
Show me one TV Show or Film Continuation of a TV Show thats not without Continuity issues, and I'll be quiet (Instantly, ST:TOS and the associated movies come to my mind as something that was pretty dern good, so I'll be quieter now :)
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