I didn’t like that one so much because it was so cleary set up just for the joke. What I mean is that the character Zoey wouldn’t actually say that - that she does is a contrivance to form the joke. Still funny.
No, what’s better is the “And the last thing you’ll ever see will be my blade…” “Okay.” kick. That scene is one of the greatest scenes in the history of television. And consistent with the characters.
For what it’s worth, I’m going with Objects In Space. Out of Gas has a better story, and it’s well told, but Objects in Space is just pretty much flawlessly presented the whole way. It has an amazing flow to it.
I’d have to go with Out of Gas. Popular sentiment be damned, I never took to Jubal Early, as much as some folks seem to. OoG is all about Mal and Serenity, and the most unconventional love story ever put to public TV, I think.
Close seconds would be OiS, Serenity, and* Ariel.*
I just watched all of these for the first time the past month or so, aided by my local video store. As such, I am horrible with the titles. Great series, pity I never even heard of it until well after it’s shortlived run. Nice marketing, Fox!
Probably can’t pick a favorite episode, maybe the last one - Objects?, but my favorite scene is when Mal and Wash are being tortured by that sadistic crime boss.
Out of Gas. I especially loved the dinner scene - that’s some great writing right there, and really gives the sense of the crew as a family. Objects in Space was the first episode I saw, and I’m still not too fond of it. Somebody’s got to explain why everyone loves it.
Objects in Space didn’t do much for me until I listened to the commentary track. If you don’t like pretentious “Ooh, look at me quote Jean-Paul Sartre!” fools, you won’t like it. But I totally dig that stuff. Listening to Joss talk about his underlying structure for the episode, the reasons for particular camera angles, the symbolism of River’s feet–it was just magnificent.
But I still prefer Out of Gas, because, as a friend once said about me, I’m a narrative junkie. And that one has three different narrative threads–Mal’s struggle to save the ship, the immediate prelude to his struggle, and the original meeting of the crew. They’re woven together very well. The viewer both gets to enjoy the move from ignorance to understanding (my favorite thing of all about stories, and the reason I hate spoilers) and gets to enjoy some delicious dramatic irony (Zoe’s distaste for Wash, for example). I didn’t need no steenking commentary track to make me love that episode.
KAYLEE: Catalyzer on the port compression coil blew. That’s where the trouble started.
MAL: I need that in Captain Dummy talk, Kaylee.
KAYLEE: We’re dead in the water.
That’s Firefly in a nutshell; the anti-Star Trek, eschewing technobabble, particle-of-the-week solutions for, you know, actual conflict and resolution.
Even the weakest episodes of Firefly have something to recommend them; for instance, the final exchange between Mal and the henchmen in “The Train Job”:
EXT. SERENITY - NIGHT
Crow goes down in a heap onto his knees. He is on the ramp, the huge jet engine behind him just starting to whir to life, wind kicking up as the ship prepares to take off.
Mal stands before him, holding a wad of bills.
MAL: Now this is all the money Niska gave us in advance. You give it back to him, tell him the job didn’t work out. We’re not thieves – well, we are thieves, but – the point is, we’re not taking what’s his. We’ll stay out of his way as best we can from here on in. You’ll explain that’s best for everyone, okay?
Crow rises. He towers over Mal, hatred on his face.
CROW: Keep the money. Use it to buy a funeral. It doesn’t matter where
you go, how far you fly – I will hunt you down and the last thing you see will be my blade.
MAL: (sighs) Darn.
He kicks Crow back – and the huge fellow is instantly SUCKED into the engine of the ship. It’s very sudden, but the resultant crunching noise goes on for a bit.
A beat, and Zoe shoves one of Crow’s henchmen in front of Mal.
Mal: (continuing) Now. this is all the money Niska –
HENCHMAN: Oh I get it. I’m good. Best for everyone, I’m right there with you.
Mal smiles, puts the money in the man’s breast pocket and pats it.
Wow, tough question. I think I’d have to go with “War Stories” overall, with “Shindig,” “Jaynestown,” and “Out of Gas” nipping at its heels. I just love the interaction between Mal and Wash in “War Stories,” and I think it’s the best single-episode encapsulation of all the elements of the show-- drama, humor, action, character moments.
I like the eerie atmosphere of “Objects in Space,” and it contains one of my all-time favorite scenes from the series, River picking up the tree branch which turns out to be a gun. But the fact that it’s the chronological end to the show just doesn’t sit well with me. It’s hard for me to accept that the series had to end with such a tonally and narratively atypical episode, and one with very little character and plot development. I know that’s not fair, but there you have it.
Oh, and I’ve have to name “The Message” as the “least best” episode of Firefly. Despite some great moments, it has the most pedestrian plot and uninteresting guest characters of the series. To me it’s the only episode that feels like it could just as easily be an episode of any other generic sci-fi show.
Agreed–and it also suffered the worst from Joss Whedon’s “Story problems that could be avoided by characters who talk to one another.” The dude died in The Message because Mal was too much of a jackass to tell the dude his plan. Mal’s jackassery not only resulted in dude’s death, it also endangered his entire crew. No reason at all to do that.
Joss Whedon overuses that trick, IMO. I can’t remember details, but I know several times when I was watching Buffy, it felt like there was only conflict in the episode because people were too stupid to check in with each other.
At least when it happened in Angel, they hilariously blamed it on their cell phones :).
Yeah, but to be fair, it’s a well-worn dramatic tradition. Romeo & Juliet would have been a 1-act if everybody had just talked to each other or waited 15 minutes before doing something.
Agreed. Sometimes it makes sense as a plot point: There’s no time, or communications are down, or the bad guys are listening in.
But in The Message, as soon as Knox walked in with the gun and held it to Kaylee’s head, there was no reson for Mal to not explain the plan right then and there to him. He had plenty of time, and instead went off on some tangents. It was out of character, and flawed writing.
If they had survived by the skin of their teeth, only to make the same dumb mistake week after week, I woulda gotten irritated with Shakespeare, too :).
I’d agree on this. In the few episodes that were made and the movie, Mal is revealed to be as human as any, with all of the weaknesses inherent there in. He can be demanding, quick to temper, pick fights, stubborn (see Inara) and so on. He’s also smarter than most, fast, loyal, etc, but is outwitted more than once. The key is that he often is able to turn the tables on those who have tricked him.
River is the only one who is portrayed as sort of superhuman, which is balanced by the demons inflicted on her by the Alliance.
Well, sure, but that was only Shakespeare writing it, the hack. This is Joss fucking Whedon we’re talking about!!!
(I’m totally kidding, by the way. I love Joss, but I’m not a complete sycophant. Yet. Joss, call me!)
