Since the other boards on Firefly aren't open for posts I'll do it here. I'm finally getting to see this series after the movie peaked my interest a few years ago. So far, I'm very impressed, but I think it sucks that the actor who plays Mal has been on at least three short-lived shows on Fox in the last five years.

(anti)-nits for the Train ep:

"At the very end, why is the sheriff staked out with his partners? What were they waiting for? The thieves to have an attack of conscience?" Hannah

The sheriff heard about a ship in that direction and was on his way to check it out. Why his deputies, or whatever, where in hiding I don't know.

"The handgun Baldie points at Jayne (just before the Serenity flies up behind Jayne) is the same .44 model that Dirty Harry used when he lost his famout Smith & Wesson .44 revolver in Sudden Impact." Mark N

Actually no it wasn't. Dirty Harry used a .44 magnum Automag, the bald guy had Widley, forget the caliber, which Charles Bronson used on one of the Death Wish movies.

About the pilot Serenity: One of the handguns the Alliance agent had was an Austra made in 1938. It's amazing it's lasted this long.

A couple follow-ups: The Widley is a .475 caliber weapon and it's Astra not Austra.

I was looking forward to commenting on the episode 'Bushwhacked', since it's board is blank, but I must've overlooked it on the DVD so I don't know what it was about.

Shindig: The bar brawl in the beginning was poorly done. The punch sounds weren’t synchronous and the choreography was easily noticeable. If Luigi never pointed it out, I probably would’ve forgot about the Blue Sun Corp. Thanks Luigi! Kaylee looked more like a cute little girl in that dress than an upstanding lady, but she’s still my favorite woman on the show.

Safe: From the moment Simon and River was kidnapped, I knew the witch angle would come into play. I'm curious to know if Shepard's credintials will come into play again. I loved that scene when Jayne dumped the stuff he stole from Simon back on his bed and then welcomed him back to the ship.

Our Mrs. Reynalds: "This was the most enjoyable hour of television I have ever seen." Merat

I wouldn't go that far but this ep was absolutely hilarious. I was even sweating a couple times because Saffron's 'talents' were working very well on me. The scene where Jayne introduces Vera was great.

Jaynetown: Kaylee is trying to get Simon to like her but she's also trying to change who he is. Being proper is all he knows and isn't about to become more like the crew in a few months. I'm a bit surprised that nobody pointed out how strange it was that Jayne's ex-partner could walk after spending four years in that cramped box. His limbs would've atrophied so bad that I doubt he'd even be able to hold up that shotgun, which pumped itself when aimed at Mal.

Out of Gas: Good episode. Incredibly suspenseful, even though I still knew everything would turn out ok. There is a device now that divers use for covert missions, because they don't expel bubbles, called a rebreather. Essentially, it recycles what you exhale through a filter so you can... re-breath it. By this time I would imagine a more advanced system could be used for just this situation.

Ariel: "If I didn't know better, I'd say you're ready to save some lives." It was a little strange that Simon didn't defend River after she sliced Jayne. That hospital wasn't very well lit. When Simon woke up, there was a panel that had a similar motif to a Star Trek one. Wash and Kaylee are miricle workers with that transport. Why did Mal wait until Jayne was ten minutes past deadline? I'm sure it was just to show us how diabolical these "hands of blue" guys are, but I didn't think their little death toy was necessary. Just kill the guy and be done with it. Who didn't see the doublecross coming?

War Stories: I'm surprised this board was blank. I was impressed with how Wash handled his the argument with Zoe. She clearly wears the pants in that relationship but he holds his ground. Preacher says the dead guys died by rifles with laser sights but there's no way he could know that, plus there are probably still good shots out there. Somehow, I doubt they could sneak up on a space station just by not using their engines, unless they have stealth technology. Jayne x2 "I'll be in my bunk."

Trash: This ep follows War Stories on the DVDs. Why would an area with good security not notice Serenity hovering below a dumpster? Inara straightens her hair, still looks incredible. Does River ever show any telekinetic abilities? She claims to be able to "kill with my brain." I don't recall ever seeing that she can, but maybe she means with circular logic so heads explode. Evidently Simon isn't as proper as I thought; he uses the word 'cruder' when Jayne was about to show River his 'man parts.'

There is a device now that divers use for covert missions, because they don't expel bubbles, called a rebreather. Essentially, it recycles what you exhale through a filter so you can... re-breath it. By this time I would imagine a more advanced system could be used for just this situation.

A rebreather doesn't turn CO2 back into Oxygen. When you breath out you breath out a mixture of Oxygen and CO2. The rebreather has a scrubber that filters out the CO2, the remaining oxygen is mixed with new oxygen and you breath it in, the cycle repeats. The reason that you don't have a big tank with a rebreather is because by recycling the oxygen that a SCUBA system would have wasted as part of the bubbles it can make 10 minutes of oxygen last for 30 minutes. The CO2 is in a scrubber, so no bubbles there either.

On Serenity they do have a system to actually re-cycle the oxygen but they said that both it and the auxiliary life support were messed up by the fire and the engine/power troubles.

River never uses tk in the series or the feature film.

I was a bit vague on rebreathers, sorry about that, but I do know how they work, used them many times. There are scrubbers and O2 candles of various sizes that don't need power to run, which I have also used. I mentioned rebreathers because I would imagine the suits could sustain air better and wondered why Mal didn't put one on after everybody left.

Thanks Luigi. I didn't think so, and now that I've seen all the eps and film I know so. Perhaps if the series went on longer she would've developed tk, but I guess we'll never know.

Message: "They don't like it when you shoot at them." Mal; that entire scene was hilarious. I doubt making a Y incision will ever not be used for autopsies, and Simon wasn't even close making one. Plus, what's-his-name hardly bled at all. Zoe frequently uses a sawed-off, lever-action rifle, except when she's breaking Mal out in War Stories. In such close quarters it'd probably be more useful.

Heart of Gold: I knew that woman was going to die when Mal started getting friendly with her. Either way, GO MAL! Inara took him sleeping with her pretty hard though, even though she's slept with many other people since she's met him. I know it's her job but common Inara; it's not like he'd take her with him. Jayne's first weapon of choice was shotgun, which is a short-range weapon, and was on the second or third floor. Wash fired a revolver eight times, when they usually only hold six.

Objects in Space: Did Mal hear that bounty hunter come in or did he stumble across him? I would think somebody would him come in, or at least have a warning system when outer hatches open. I don't see much sense in having outer locks on stateroom doors, espicially the captain's. I knew River was in his ship when she started talking over the PA. Also, is it wise to have such a big forward window?

On the subject of revolvers, there have been many designs which take more than the standard six, with one I've seen that holds twenty rounds. Mind you, that one had an absurdly huge cylinder.

I haven't seen any twenty-rounders, but I have seen ten-shot .22LR revolvers, and I own a seven-shot .357. I mentioned that because Hollywood has a tendancy to allow guns more shots than it can hold; plus in War Stories, as the crew is preparing to rescue Mal, Zoe handed out a revolver claiming it had six shots and I think it was the same gun used in Heart of Gold.

How many eps were the Reavers mentioned in? I know they were in the pilot, and I think Bushwhacked too but I missed the ep, are there any others? I'm just curious, and in the real movie board Gordon points out that the Reavers are still widely unknown, so hopefully the Pax-broadcast was mainly sent to colonies where they are known. In the unlikely event a sequal is made, in order to outdo Serenity, it would have to practically have another Independants-Alliance war, perhaps started by this revelation.

In Message, when that Alliance fighter was giving chase, I was thinking how funny it would be if the feds went over the canyon instead of following Serenity, and the look on Wash's face when he realized they did just that was priceless. However, did Wash really think he could outmanuver a military craft?

The pilot and Bushwhacked are indeed the only episodes where Reavers are mentioned. I'm skeptical that the broadcast would actually alter the status quo. First off, keep in mind that, unlike the crew of Serenity, your average shmoe has not been on Miranda and seen what's there. So they'll just be getting a recording of an anonymous woman blithering about something called Pax without any context. Add in that most folks don't believe that Reavers exist and it would be a simple matter for the Alliance to broadcast a propaganda announcement stating that it was the work of delusional malcontents. As for people on the Rim who are more likely to believe in the Reavers, Cortex access is less common and most of them would be out working in the fields or mines or whatever and likely miss the broadcast. Sure there are some who would use it as a rationale to cause trouble, but such people would likely have seized on any old excuse.

In Shindig, when Mal commented on the tightness of his trousers, it got me to wondering if it was meant to be a nod to Wild, Wild West. According to The Incredible World of Spy-Fi by Danny Biederman, the trousers Robert Conrad wore on the show were very tight and would regularly split during the many fight scenes. As this particular episode has a strong Wild, Wild West vibe to it, it seemed possible.

I finally bought the series and watched Bushwhacked, and a few others again. Bushwhacked was a good ep, but when taking the movie into account it kinda takes away from the whole thing. It was a good idea to put Simon and River in space suits and have them wait outside the ship but I find it hard to believe that nobody saw them considering they were in an indented section and there were ships flying around all the time. I was kinda hoping that River was going to take care of that reaver wanna-be, but it had to be Mal so the Alliance would let Serenity go. There were a few good cleavage shots in the teaser

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