Friend, you have NO idea what’s in store for you. 
Finished watching Firefly last night, planning to watch Serenity tonight.
That’s one gorram shiny show.
Something else to sing along with: I’m On Firefly by filker Tom Smith. That’s a direct link to the MP3.
Very minor spoilers for the show, one cryptic reference that won’t make much sense until you’ve seen the movie.
*** Ponder
Thank God. I thought I was alone on this.
Whedon’s thoughts notwithstanding, I thought that the first episoded aired by Fox was far superior to that included in the set; I’d love to get hold of it if it’s available. Think of how everyone loves the non-linear story line in LOST, when the story goes backward or forward in time. The aired pilot (as best as I can remember) started with the story line, went back in time to show a little back story, then jumped back to finish the story. Whedon’s order is painfully linear to me. It was a good call, so subsequent actions by Fox imply that the exec who demanded the edit was then summarily demoted.
They didn’t make any edits or changes to the episodes AFAIK; they just aired “The Train Job” instead of the pilot and skipped entirely over the backstory of how everyone got together on the ship.
Yeah. The only thing that description makes me think of it ‘out of gas’, which I guess could have been used as a pilot, though it’s better a little further in.
Well, six years ago, it doesn’t surprise me that I remember it a bit hazily. You’re probably right, although I distinctly remember that the first night was a two hour episode (looks like it was episodes 2 and 3 together), because it also introduced the Reavers. Wiki doesn’t seem to bear that out, but it was aired as 2 hours around here. Strange, I could swear that I remembered a bit of backstory to the battle in Serenity Valley…
And, missed the edit window, but here is some discussion about it, with some disagreement over what was shown and what wasn’t. I dunno, I’m confused now.
Actually, now that I think on it, I believe that when the episodes first aired on TV, there was some brief opening narration that set up the story, but wasn’t included on the DVD set. Maybe this is what you’re thinking of.
Maybe it aired that way in Fenwick :), but it wasn’t that way in Dallas. The fanclub I was in gathered to watch it. It was definitely just one hour, “The Train Job”, and we wondered what happened to “the girl in the box” that had been shown in many of the promos. We started hating Fox right then and there, even before we knew what was up. 
Following Firefly that night was the premiere of John Doe. Something I probably wouldn’t have started watching on my own.
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Damn, I thought I remembered seeing some battle sequences, but that could well be it. Talk about your mind’s eye…
This seems to bear out my remembery of a two hour pilot.
Dueling cites, I love it.
I was living in Dallas at the time. I can’t find an online cite for the Dallas paper, but it did air the way I remember it in Austin: http://media.www.dailytexanonline.com/media/storage/paper410/news/2002/09/27/Entertainment/Fox-Gets.Friday.Night.Buzz.From.firefly.While.Nbc.Is.About.To.boom.On.Sundays-499461.shtml
Note the airtimes for both “Firefly” and “John Doe” which followed it. I particularly remember being annoyed that the group had decided on John Doe, because there was something else on that night I rather would have watched, but I can’t remember for the life of me now what it was.
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From that same page, right below what you quoted, note the premiere dates:
Perhaps the dashes in the sequence you quoted indicate they were shown on successive fridays, without [censored] pre-emption for sports.
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That site seems to be saying that Train Job was the first episode aired in the US and Canada, at 8:00 PM on 12-20-02, followed immediately after at 9:00 PM with the second hour of Serenity. If that’s the case, Fox is even stupider than I imagined.
I watched “The Train Job” when it first aired and don’t remember anything Firefly-related following it.
I think you’re misreading it; I don’t see that claim anywhere? The page lists the episodes in Joss’s preferred order, but it also shows them listed with the actual date they were first aired. “Serenity” was aired on Dec 20, but the previous episodes were aired prior to that, starting in September.
*** Ponder
I remember The Train Job as the pilot. I also remember thinking that I felt like I was dropped in the middle of something really good. Of course I was hooked when Mal kicked him through the engine intake
BUN tyen-shung duh Fox!
Ah, crap. I was looking at the air dates, and thought they both said “Dec 20”. Train Job was aired “Sep 20” though.
Excuse me while I adjust my brain.
I don’t like this fake swearing. If it’s an attempt at some future-speak, which I respect and is really hard to make authentic, he shouldn’t have. The show would have been much better off on HBO.
I seem to be saying that a lot these days.