# Resolved: Firefly Kicks Ass **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 2, 2009, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-firefly-kicks-ass/498483 "2009-06-02T14:47:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![GargoyleWB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gargoylewb/32/199_2.png) [@GargoyleWB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GargoyleWB)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2009, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-firefly-kicks-ass/498483/61 "2009-06-03T15:34:46Z")
I made an actual real effort to watch it during the original airing. The first airing, Train Job, was mildly interesting in isolation but my friends and I felt it “gimmicky”, as a sci-fi “western”. I recall that a few more episodes I missed because they were preempted by some other broadcast. Then I missed a time slot reschedule, and then only caught another episode before it was canceled since I wasn’t going to rearrange my Friday nights just to catch a “maybe” show. Fox couldn’t have made it more difficult to watch, it was straight up assassination of a promising show. It wasn’t until getting a Tivo later, when it captured a marathon rebroadcast, that I watched it and fell in love. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2009, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-firefly-kicks-ass/498483/62 "2009-06-03T15:48:03Z")
The one thing that bothered me about Mal’s duel is how he fought it. If I were him, I would have thrown my sword in Wing’s face right at the start and then hit him with a flying tackle. A rapier is useless at grappling range, and there’s no way Wing could have won a down-and-dirty tussle against the Captain. ---
**Author:** ![FalconFinder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/51bf81/32.png) [@FalconFinder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FalconFinder)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2009, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-firefly-kicks-ass/498483/63 "2009-06-03T16:26:21Z")
> [@Lissla\_Lissar](#): > > It’s so nice to see someone else join the club. 😃 > > I think _Objects in Space_ and _Out of Gas_ are my favourites. > > Maybe. > > I think the ones I haven’t rewatched relentlessly are _Safe_, _Jaynestown_, and _Heart of Gold_. Good, but not mindblowing. Nuts! I always get the names for Out of Gas and Objects in Space goofed up. I think that must be because they both start with O! :eek: Out of Gas is the episode that I was thinking of. That was the most powerful episode to me. War Stories is close behind. (I’m starting to feel like the Monty Python Spanish Inquisition sketch. “I have this favorite! Wait! No! This one’s my favorite!” Oy.) ---
**Author:** ![chrisk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@chrisk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chrisk)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2009, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-firefly-kicks-ass/498483/64 "2009-06-03T16:27:01Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > The one thing that bothered me about Mal’s duel is how he fought it. If I were him, I would have thrown my sword in Wing’s face right at the start and then hit him with a flying tackle. A rapier is useless at grappling range, and there’s no way Wing could have won a down-and-dirty tussle against the Captain. Nice strategy if it was really just Mal and Wing, but remember that they each had seconds, and there was a crowd of Persephone dueling society people watching. I have no idea if there were supposed to be ‘rules’ that Mal had to follow about proper dueling practice or he’d have been stopped, but it’s something to consider. ---
**Author:** ![ArrMatey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/arrmatey/32/3522_2.png) [@ArrMatey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ArrMatey)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2009, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-firefly-kicks-ass/498483/65 "2009-06-03T16:54:26Z")
> [@chrisk](#): > > Nice strategy if it was really just Mal and Wing, but remember that they each had seconds, and there was a crowd of Persephone dueling society people watching. I have no idea if there were supposed to be ‘rules’ that Mal had to follow about proper dueling practice or he’d have been stopped, but it’s something to consider. I’m thinking it was more of a “I can beat this guy at his own game,” thing, and that Mal’s own ego wouldn’t allow him to ‘cheat’ until it finally came down to a more brutal, life-or-death moment. Then he subconsciously realized that winning his way was better than dying according to ‘rules’ he very rarely listened to anyway. I started watching the show the first airing after ‘The Train Job’, when my friend Rob showed me the ‘Give Niska his money… Darn.’ moment, which, of course, made me fall completely in love with the show. My only regret over the lack-of-episodes is the lack of lore. I heard so many people after the movie came out say that Book ‘had’ to be a former Operative. I found that amazingly short-sighted. Sure, he might have been one, but (for instance) we say the supernatural guy is a vampire when all we’ve been shown is vampires, if that makes sense? I’d like to think Book could’ve been a lot of things we never got to see. (As an irony: A week before Serenity opened, a friend of mine was the celeb liason at a sci-fi convention that many of the cast was at. He said he spent some time with Ron Glass and asked him if he’d be in a sequel if it was done. Ron, apparently, gave him a -very- dirty look. :smack: ) ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2009, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-firefly-kicks-ass/498483/66 "2009-06-03T17:13:21Z")
> [@mr.jp](#): > > Inara is stunning, but I think her acting could be better. In the pilot episode, Inara gives herself a sponge bath, onscreen. Kaylee eats a strawberry. Kaylee eating the strawberry was ten times sexier than Inara’s sponge bath. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2009, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-firefly-kicks-ass/498483/67 "2009-06-03T17:19:31Z")
> [@ArrMatey](#): > > (As an irony: A week before Serenity opened, a friend of mine was the celeb liason at a sci-fi convention that many of the cast was at. He said he spent some time with Ron Glass and asked him if he’d be in a sequel if it was done. Ron, apparently, gave him a -very- dirty look. :smack: ) Alan Tudyk said at Dracon\*Con last year that Joss has promised him that if they ever do a sequel, he’ll be in it. Maybe Ron finally worked out a similar deal. ---
**Author:** ![Gangster\_Octopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a8b319/32.png) [@Gangster\_Octopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gangster_Octopus)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2009, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-firefly-kicks-ass/498483/68 "2009-06-03T17:34:57Z")
My wife loves _Buffy_ and _Dollhouse_ and liked _Angel_. So I asked her if she had ever watched _Firefly_, no “What’s _Firefly?_” So I told her and her eyes got all crazy like. Then I told her I had it on DVD and she said “Then why aren’t we watching it **RIGHT NOW**!” So we watched the whle series in about four days of after work viewing. She LOVED it. I cannot remember the names of the episodes, but there were a fes that really stand out for me: Sneaking River into the hospital The Captain trying to repair the ship alone The Captian and the pilot get tortured ---
**Author:** ![Ephemera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8baadc/32.png) [@Ephemera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ephemera)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2009, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-firefly-kicks-ass/498483/69 "2009-06-03T17:37:26Z")
> [@Gangster\_Octopus](#): > > I cannot remember the names of the episodes, but there were a fes that really stand out for me: > > Sneaking River into the hospital > The Captain trying to repair the ship alone > The Captian and the pilot get tortured Ariel, Out of Gas, and War Stories. ---
**Author:** ![Turek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/turek/32/18782_2.png) [@Turek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Turek)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2009, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-firefly-kicks-ass/498483/70 "2009-06-03T17:51:43Z")
> [@BrotherCadfael](#): > > In the pilot episode, Inara gives herself a sponge bath, onscreen. Kaylee eats a strawberry. > > Kaylee eating the strawberry was ten times sexier than Inara’s sponge bath. Obviously we must agree to disagree. Hint: Check out my location ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2009, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-firefly-kicks-ass/498483/71 "2009-06-03T20:20:28Z")
> [@](#): > > In the pilot episode, Inara gives herself a sponge bath, onscreen. Kaylee eats a strawberry. > > Kaylee eating the strawberry was ten times sexier than Inara’s sponge bath. I personally agree. But I can also appreciate that, unlike Ginger vs. Mary-Ann, Kaylee vs. Inara is a debate on which reasonable men can disagree. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2009, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-firefly-kicks-ass/498483/72 "2009-06-03T20:29:16Z")
**Or** …we can invision Inara giving _Kaylee_ a sponge bath… I’ll be in mah bunk. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-firefly-kicks-ass/498483.md?page=3)