# Burn the land and boil the sea. (R.I.P., Firefly) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 21, 2003, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/burn-the-land-and-boil-the-sea-r-i-p-firefly/220341 "2003-12-21T18:20:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![elf6c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/c57346/32.png) [@elf6c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elf6c)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2004, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/burn-the-land-and-boil-the-sea-r-i-p-firefly/220341/101 "2004-01-06T20:10:30Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by scr4 \* > \*\*What’s wrong with Amazon? I just got mine from them, along with season 3 of Babylon 5. 🙂 🙂 \*\* Yep, that’s how I got mine too. Working on DVD #2 now. I should be finished watching right around when Angel Year 3 is released in Feb. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2004, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/burn-the-land-and-boil-the-sea-r-i-p-firefly/220341/102 "2004-01-06T20:31:26Z")
Space Monkeys? ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2004, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/burn-the-land-and-boil-the-sea-r-i-p-firefly/220341/103 "2004-01-06T21:18:45Z")
> [@](#): > > _Originally posted by a wizard song for thee_ > Oh, dude, you rented the first season of Angel and expected it to be good? I’m so sorry. No, the first two seasons of Angel existed solely to give us enough backstory to enjoy the stellar second two. Well, okay, I’m sure it wasn’t actually planned that way, but trust me when I say that the first season of Angel was not indicative of the quality of the entire series. > > Babylon 5, though, well, you’re on your own. Actually, the first season of Babylon 5 was pretty bad, too. Another show that didn’t hit its stride until the second season. I like the DVD they released that had the original pilot and the TV movie _In the Beginning_, that was made after the series had ended. The quality of the two is like night and day. ---
**Author:** ![Cliffy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/59ef9b/32.png) [@Cliffy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cliffy)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2004, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/burn-the-land-and-boil-the-sea-r-i-p-firefly/220341/104 "2004-01-06T21:20:37Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by carnivorousplant \* > \*\*Gravity drive or moons in “The Message”? \*\* Gravity drive. Kaylee mentions to Tracey that there can be turbulence when Serenity gets to a planet because of conflicts between a “gravity drive and actual gravity.” –Cliffy ---
**Author:** ![kasuo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/8c91f0/32.png) [@kasuo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kasuo)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2004, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/burn-the-land-and-boil-the-sea-r-i-p-firefly/220341/105 "2004-01-06T21:27:16Z")
**cplant** , the line about the gravity drive was mentioned in “The Message” when Serenity arrived at St. Albans, Kaylee + guest were experiencing turbulence. Kaylee mentions how the gravity drive and the planet’s gravity conflict with each other. (But what about the inertial dampeners? :p) ---
**Author:** ![Jenny\_Haniver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Jenny\_Haniver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jenny_Haniver)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2004, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/burn-the-land-and-boil-the-sea-r-i-p-firefly/220341/106 "2004-01-06T22:09:59Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by carnivorousplant \* > \*\*Space Monkeys? \*\* From **The Train Job** : > [@](#): > > MAL: > Kaylee, what the hell’s goin’ on in the engine room? > Were there monkeys? Some terrifying space monkeys > maybe got loose? Who doesn’t love space monkeys? ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2004, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/burn-the-land-and-boil-the-sea-r-i-p-firefly/220341/107 "2004-01-06T22:16:50Z")
**Jenny** , my wife and I watched the pilot episode on DVD, and afterwards I was gushing to her about it: “What the hell was Fox thinking?!” I said. “This show has it all! Guns, jokes, nudity, horror, ships, good characters – hell, if it had monkeys, it’d be damn near the perfect entertainment product!” Then we watched _The Train Job_, and Mal asked about space monkeys, and I just about died. It was the perfect entertainment product. Daniel ---
**Author:** ![Osip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/4491bb/32.png) [@Osip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Osip)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2004, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/burn-the-land-and-boil-the-sea-r-i-p-firefly/220341/108 "2004-01-06T23:38:39Z")
My personal favorite moment in Firefly. is in “our Mrs Renolds” Book is lecturing Mal aoubt taking advantage of Saffron… There is a special place in hell for those who molest children… and people who talk in the theatre" Damn I miss that show. ---
**Author:** ![thinksnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thinksnow/32/2849_2.png) [@thinksnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thinksnow)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2004, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/burn-the-land-and-boil-the-sea-r-i-p-firefly/220341/109 "2004-01-07T00:12:32Z")
**Osip** , don’t forget: I _knew_ you let her kiss you! ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2004, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/burn-the-land-and-boil-the-sea-r-i-p-firefly/220341/110 "2004-01-07T00:44:43Z")
A space monkey frozen in a gravity drive wave could tell you the best scene is discussing repayment for the train job. I think one of the best ideas was, with the exception of mentioning gravity drive and the need for fuel, not talking about how they travel FTL. The BAR or whatever requiring air to fire sucked, but silence in a vacumn and ships moving in different planes was very good. ---
**Author:** ![sciguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e68b1a/32.png) [@sciguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sciguy)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2004, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/burn-the-land-and-boil-the-sea-r-i-p-firefly/220341/111 "2004-01-10T00:15:52Z")
The quality of this show has been sufficiently covered. I just wanted to add that I’ve never laughed so hard during commentaries as the ones on these. I think it was the one on “War Stories” where at the end Fillion (Mal) tells Tudyk (Wash) to take off so he can get in some quality porn time. Or maybe it was the other way around… Fillion’s singing along with it with the theme song. Space monkeys… And when I first saw the pilot I knew who the Alliance agent was. I mean, he had already run a demonic homeless shelter / slavery camp and wanted to eat Doyle’s brain… **carnivorousplant** , why did it suck that Vera needed air to shoot? I’m not too knowlegable about bullets, but does gunpowder have enough oxidizer in it to burn in a vacuum? Even if it did, you’d need atmospheric oxygen to start everything off, right? ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2004, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/burn-the-land-and-boil-the-sea-r-i-p-firefly/220341/112 "2004-01-10T00:34:07Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by sciguy \* > \*\* > (1)does gunpowder have enough oxidizer in it to burn in a vacuum? > (2)you’d need atmospheric oxygen to start everything off, right? \*\* (1)Yes! (2)No, dammit! How much air gets into a brass cartridge? You can soak them in water and they will fire. Whats-his-name laments on the CD, “We _did_ have someone tell us it needed air to fire…” ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2004, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/burn-the-land-and-boil-the-sea-r-i-p-firefly/220341/113 "2004-01-10T00:53:16Z")
I maintain, at least within the fevered confines of my brain, that Vera used some sort of weird future gunpowder that’s vastly more powerful than the stuff we use today, but which doesn’t work in a vacuum. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2004, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/burn-the-land-and-boil-the-sea-r-i-p-firefly/220341/114 "2004-01-10T01:03:11Z")
Probably the same stuff used in those Navy Colt cap and ball revolvers. 🙂 Ah, but once you fired the first round, there is no longer any air around her; it quickly escapes into a vacumn. ---
**Author:** ![AndrewL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@AndrewL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AndrewL)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2004, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/burn-the-land-and-boil-the-sea-r-i-p-firefly/220341/115 "2004-01-10T01:33:48Z")
I prefer to explain it by assuming that Jayne is an idiot. ---
**Author:** ![confessorknight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e9a140/32.png) [@confessorknight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/confessorknight)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2004, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/burn-the-land-and-boil-the-sea-r-i-p-firefly/220341/116 "2004-01-10T02:04:12Z")
Okay going by reviews and Pedigree I knew this was going to be good - so without having seen a single episode I went over to Amazon and got my set delivered for new year. Good God-Damn this is excellent stuff I just got to end of the third disc and am horribly impressed. Not as dark as I’d read “bleakness of character’s lives” etc more than enough funny stuff for me. Why is it everytime I hear of the fox network its in connection with the Cancellation of something truely excellent (Picked up the _Tick_ series at the same time). Would been nice to get some arc development though. “Preacher, doesn’t the Bible have some prety specific things to say about killing?” “Quite specific. It is, however, somewhat fuzzier on the subject of kneecaps.” ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2004, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/burn-the-land-and-boil-the-sea-r-i-p-firefly/220341/117 "2004-01-10T02:07:39Z")
AndrewL: Yeah, but Reynolds agrees. Maybe he’s placating a guy with a BAR. ---
**Author:** ![CadburyAngel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c2a13f/32.png) [@CadburyAngel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CadburyAngel)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2004, 5:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/burn-the-land-and-boil-the-sea-r-i-p-firefly/220341/118 "2004-01-10T05:48:15Z")
Damn this show. I used to love Star Trek so much and after burning through my Firefly DVDs two or three times in a row, I tried to take a break by getting some DS9 off Netflix. It’s just so… not… Firefly. Sigh. I think “Trash” is my favorite unreleased episode. “The Message” has pacing issues, plus it has that stupid “let’s not fill everyone in on the plan for no apparent reason” plot device that I hate. (Also, their plan? Was a bad plan.) “Heart of Gold” was decent, especially for finally advancing the Mal/Inara plotline, but uneven. Still, even the worst Firefly is better than the rest of television. For my money, I always liked the heist episodes, and Saffron as well. Can anybody tell me how to find the Easter Egg on the last disc? (Also, if you know where the Andy Serkis acceptance speech on LoTR: TT EE is, that’d be swell. When it comes to Easter Eggs, I’m lost, I’m angry, and I’m… unarmed.) ---
**Author:** ![Santos\_L\_Halper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/santos_l_halper/32/1_2.png) [@Santos\_L\_Halper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Santos_L_Halper)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2004, 5:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/burn-the-land-and-boil-the-sea-r-i-p-firefly/220341/119 "2004-01-10T05:58:00Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by CadburyAngel \* > \*\*Can anybody tell me how to find the Easter Egg on the last disc? \*\* Go to special features, then press “more” to go to the second page. go down to the bottom left selection (Joss sings the firefly theme) and pres left until a symbol is highlighted on the left of the picture of Mal. ---
**Author:** ![CadburyAngel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c2a13f/32.png) [@CadburyAngel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CadburyAngel)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2004, 6:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/burn-the-land-and-boil-the-sea-r-i-p-firefly/220341/120 "2004-01-10T06:02:57Z")
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