Firefly - Episode 4 - Shindig - REACTION - First Time Watching

[@robhazan5961]

There were a number of factors that lead to the low ratings during the original broadcast run. Fox basically gave Whedon a blank check based on the success of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. But they were expecting another hip, young show that appealed to teens and women. So they were upset when he delivered the pilot for Firefly. So first they asked to produce a second episode (The Train Job) before agreeing to the 13 episode run and asked for Mal to be 'funnier'. Fox still didn't like it, but there was press and fan buzz around the show, so they greenlit. But they put it on Friday nights at 8pmEST, a timeslot commonly referred to as 'the death slot' because most people go out on Friday nights (this was in the very early days of DVR). On top of that, they didn't air the original pilot (Serenity), which introduced the characters much better. And finally, Fox was also running Friday night baseball games, meaning that there were weeks when the episode was pre-empted. I think there were two weeks between the 1st and 2nd episodes and another two between 2&3. Add to all of that, Fox barely advertised the show at all. So even if you caught an episode and liked it, you wouldn't know when the next would be on. All that added up to terrible ratings. So Fox felt justified in canceling. But then the boxed set of DVDs was released, and the rest is history.

[@larrystuder6378]

Fox greenlit the show. Then there was a change of management. The new guys set out to kill it-- after all, nothing the OLD GUYS did could be allowed to succeed. If they could succeed, why were they fired? Re: River and Badger- she is some sort of telepath or empath or such, she can read minds . We have seen that much. She read his mind, understood who he was, and understood how to put him down in his own language. Mark Sheppard, the actor, worked with her to teach her the accent. It's pretty close to his natural speech, he's from Australia, I think.

[@stue2298]

@@larrystuder6378Yes Fox did this show dirty and this could have been a real money maker for them, compared to the crap they do total that cost far more and horrendous writing. River putting on that accent, with knowing the whole show, this mimicry could be part of her training to inflitrate.

[@dhavaram8064]

I was going to make, basically, this exact post, explaining why the show was unsuccessful because it was sabotaged by the new executives. Whedon had planned on at least 7 seasons and it was originally supposed to be 22 episodes for the first season (as most shows were at that time), but the studio cut it short at 14 episodes including the original pilot. Fox also aired the episodes out of order (or at least out of the order Whedon intended) because at that time most shows were episodic, meaning each episode was self contained so you could watch them in any order. They didn't really understand that there was an overarching story that kind of required showing the episodes in a specific order.

[@user-kg7co9vi5r]

Kaylee becoming the center of attention is among my favorite scenes in the series.

[@dallesamllhals9161]

Still! That dress in a work environment?

[@ernesthakey3396]

​@@dallesamllhals9161she's not foolish, she's not wearing near the engine, she's got it hanging in her room! Living quarters =/= work environment.

[@dallesamllhals9161]

@@ernesthakey3396 With =/= you mean ≠, right?

[@ernesthakey3396]

@@dallesamllhals9161 correct, but I cannot seem to find a not-equal sign on my tablet keyboard...could be it's there somewhere, but I gave up and improvised!

[@JeffKelly03]

"I cannot abide useless people" is one of my favorite lines from any show, ever.

[@migmit]

And the insult was just perfect. Notice that he started it with "your daddy tells me..." Since no respectable father would say that of his daughter, even if it's true, what he said means "you're a slut AND a low-birth". Two insults for the price of one.

[@jordanaiken7138]

This show is full of the best lines.

[@RoGueNavy]

"Ok, put the swords away, guys!" Quite prophetic, you!

[@RamblersInc]

🤣

[@maddwitch]

Companions are part of a guild. They're highly trained and sought after. Their guild has power and influence, how could they not when their companions have the ears of the rich and powerful, not to mention all the interesting pillow talk they might hear...

[@markkringle9144]

Kaylee holding court with the motor heads is hilarious! You go girl! One of my favorite scenes.

[@RamblersInc]

Epic. Telling each other to shut up so she can talk 😂

[@DocMicrowave]

That was a very cool scene. Quite to contrast to the mean girls earlier, who were just hanging with each other. Probably wishing some of the men would take interest.

[@hillbillysimmer7120]

Having been involved with an international shipping company, I can say with certainty that there are all kinds of rules, regulations, certifications, and quarantines associated with the shipment of animals from one country to another. There is a risk of carrying diseases to the local animal populations which can be catastrophic for a nation's farms. I can only imagine how strict transport restrictions would be for moving animals from one planet to another. That being said, wherever there are barriers to trade, there will always be someone willing to engage in smuggling to bypass them.

[@RamblersInc]

Yeh it makes sense now. Plus I guess you may be cutting out certain fees, costs etc

[@mark-be9mq]

River's exchange w/ Badger is one of the best in television. Brilliant scence, executed beautifully

[@RamblersInc]

Caught me off guard too lol

[@dalesharp9953]

Great reactions. Jewel hated the dress. It was difficult to get in and out of. She couldn't sit. She needed assistance to use the restroom. Mark helped Summer to get the accent down.

[@dallesamllhals9161]

Look at IT! Who wouldn't hate it...bloody Tinkerbell 😲

[@dallesamllhals9161]

You forgot the stabs: Great > Good > alright...

[@RamblersInc]

😂

[@Tampahop]

The western motif makes perfect sense. During exploration, they came across a tight group of stars with many planets and moons with various degrees of habitability orbiting those stars. The inner worlds were colonized and built up first. Now the outer worlds are being terraformed and colonized. So you have the "core" worlds like Persephone that are high tech and industrialized, while the border worlds are still being terraformed and settled and have a much more rugged or frontier feel. It makes sense to use animals like horses and cattle when support for technology is minimal at best.

[@scienceandponies]

Probably my favorite bit of the series that sticks with me is Mal's line at the end of the duel. "Mercy is the sign of a great man" *stab* "Guess I'm just a good man" *stab* "Eh, I'm alright." If that isn't a succinct summary of his character, I don't know what is.

[@kevinjohnson613]

That may be the saddest part of what happened to Firefly. When it came out there really wasn't much out in the space faring genre. No current Star Trek or Star Wars at all. That, and the fact that it was a Joss Whedon show, had me so psyched to watch it. And i did. I was very confused, and agitated, and i too was armed. But nothing we did could save it.

[@tonymayren9776]

Buckle up, it just gets better!

[@steveg5933]

"Put the swords away guys...." Funny you should pick THAT sentence! 😂😂😂😂

[@RamblersInc]

🤣

[@mhlevy]

One of the reasons that Firefly never really was given a chance was, as I recall, Fox had just gotten the television contract for Major League Baseball, and episodes were preempted for baseball games. So people who expected to see the show would tune in, and there'd be a baseball game instead, and they often didn't bother informing people when the episode of Firefly would be on. It also didn't help that the actual pilot, the 2 part "Serenity" was not shown as the first episode, instead, "The Train Job" was shown on TV as the first episode, as well as the preemption caused episodes to be shown out of order as well.

[@Garryck-1]

It was worse than that.. Firefly was murdered. With malice aforethought. The reason for Firefly's cancellation was both complex and malicious. The executive that green-lighted Firefly was promoted. The execs who had originally pitched, backed and enthusiastically promoted the show to FOX, left FOX for undisclosed reasons before the first episode was scheduled to screen. Firefly was effectively orphaned, with nobody at Fox willing to go to bat for it. The new executive wanted to save money and ax a show. He didn't like Sci-Fi shows so it made it easy to pick Firefly. There was also a bit of a civil war going on within FOX. It didn't matter how good Firefly was, these new FOX execs didn't want to honor the 5 season contract for Firefly. They couldn't rip up the contract so they instead pulled every dirty trick in the book and got the series canceled. The new exec couldn't just cancel the show so he screwed with the promotional advertising of the series having them misrepresent what the show was about and the type of show it was to be. He waited until the very last second on a Friday to reject the first pilot, claiming that the 2-hr (remember commercial TV) pilot was too long and didn't have enough action, just before the series was to air. This left Joss Whedon and Tim Minear only the weekend to fast write "The Train Job" or get canceled for breaching the 5 season contract. So Joss wrote the second episode and made adjustments to introduce everyone to catch people up. The next sabotage was to air episodes out of order, then to change air times and days of the series without notice to the audience. They finally cancelled the show with 4 episodes not being aired. After the cancellation they aired the original 2-hr pilot. Over the summer without notice they aired the 3 remaining unaired episodes. The series was to have been 22 episodes a season for 5 to 7 seasons.

[@gaffo7836]

@@Garryck-1 Did not know the particulars above thanks: I only remember I caught the Pilot on TV one night and liked it, tuned in the next week and a few weeks later and the show never returned (I never even know what the show was until Sereninity the movie came out - then I figured it out - and Netflixed the DVD set via DVDr/computer to make a set, and a few years later when the bluray set came out - 2009? - actually bought the set.

[@maidden]

To be fair to Mal, this is the kind of situation he would've normally gone with Zoe, so we might've seen her at the ball with a slinky dress instead. But he picked Kaylee to go with and got her the pouffy dress to make up for what he said earlier.

[@RamblersInc]

Loved that from him.

[@brainofwombat]

River essentially mirrors Badger, she talks to him as himself

[@doug3691]

River is just starting to come out of her shell. Glad you're liking this, guys.

[@user-kg7co9vi5r]

Put away your swords at the beginning LOL 😂😂😂

[@adamwells9352]

Yeah, that was a chortleworthy comment. Accidental precognition always hilarious.

[@RamblersInc]

🤣

[@migmit]

There is a very nice review of that duel by a real professional in swordfighting somewhere on KZbin. Bottom line: a) apart from a few minor technical mistakes, it's quite correct (given that Mal is a complete newb - for example, professionals tend to attack after every parry, but newbs frequently concentrate on defense only, which Mal does here), and b) Mal won fair and square, not breaking any rules. In particular, hitting someone with a hilt of your sword is a legitimate move (frowned upon by high society, but still OK); throwing a sword (or part thereof) is a legitimate move; grabbing a sword with your hand is a legitimate move (and might be a good idea - even if you hurt your palm, it could be a nice tradeoff).

[@kirkdarling4120]

I don't know fencing rules, but grabbing an epee (as opposed to a saber) may be a good move indeed.

[@Yarovrat]

@@kirkdarling4120 удержать голой рукой любой клинок с заточенными лезвиями невозможно. Это физиологически невозможно. Это можно сделать только имея перчатку или если epee не имеет режущих кромок вообще, как спортивная, например . Но, в кино, возможно всё, даже невозможное в реальности, за что мы его и любим)

[@feudist]

Yeah, Sir Warwick's commentary is spot on. Atherton only lost because he acted like a cruel idiot. A duel is fought in cold blood, and an utter beginner like Mal(who didn't even grasp point vs edge)has no chance at all. Even a moderately skilled swordsman possesses an impossible delta in capability, and Atherton was a lifelong swordsman who'd fought at least a dozen duels. You don't get lucky twelve times in sword fights. The way the duel "should" have gone down: Atherton extends his sword at Mal, who blocks at it. Atherton simply lowers his point under Mal's over swinging sword(called a "disengage") and lunges with his sword passing through Mal's heart. He recovers instantly back to en garde, and circles Mal until he drops unconscious. If he missed the heart(unlikely-epee fencers can hit ping pong balls bouncing on long rubber bands) he would simply stab Mal in the sword hand, and then through the throat or eye. It would take far less than a minute.

[@singingwolf3929]

@@Yarovrat Mal picked up the blade where it broke off at the hilt. This area is usually squared off because the possibility of cutting something that close to the hilt is nearly impossible.

[@singingwolf3929]

I love how Inara just takes the money that Mal stole from the slave trader at the beginning and just stuffs it into her bra. It's just one of those little details. Mal, now, can't be caught with the money on him, plus, screw those guys for being slave traders. "Put the swords away guys." Umm...🤣 Kaylee falling with the old "Car guys" is just fantastic. Inara Helps/Saves/Protects/Defends Mal yet again. Ep. 2 she gets them out of the Sheriff's Office. Ep. 3 she defends her status on the ship by not giving the Commander anything he can use against Mal. This episode she takes the money (As mentioned above), then Distracts Atherton long enough for Mal to get the upper hand.

[@RamblersInc]

That entire “mean girls” revenge scene was brilliant 👌

[@rizvan1632]

Due to a Fox higher up(not sure what her title was but she was in charge of scheduling, marketing etc) Firefly was aired out of order and it's air timeslot was changed a bunch after its premier including eventually being placed in the Friday night death slot. I also hear it wasn't really advertised in the right genre to the right audience etc but I don't know if true/too much about that

[@MsAriesQueen]

I've seen one commercial for it hack in the day. Was so bad lmfao made it very much a campy cowbows comedy type feeling. I'm not surprised people were turned off. Plus the out of order airing -_- fox did firefly so dirty

[@dallesamllhals9161]

"her"?

[@rizvan1632]

@@dallesamllhals9161 ?

[@SolarTiger]

I also read that FOX was doing the baseball playoffs, which had more focus...

[@MsAriesQueen]

@@SolarTiger so bad 😭😭😭

[@JeffCave]

As a father that couldn't buy his little girl all the things she wanted to make her feel special ... I recognize the look on Mal's face when he couldn't buy Kaylee her dress.

[@RamblersInc]

It did feel like the normal parent thing of "no you can't have this, we have it at home". If anything, the shindig itself was more fun for her than the actual dress.

[@JeffCave]

@@RamblersInc I was thinking more along of the father that has to say, you can't have it because I haven't earned enough. A hard thing to say when you see your girl's eyes are lighting up.

[@migmit]

Inara is well trained in whatever her clients are likely to enjoy. Some people find swordfighting very enjoyable, even nowadays.

[@Yarovrat]

Думаю, интересы клиентов тут не при чём. Почти везде, где существовал институт дуэлей, существовали и женские дуэли. Компаньонка должна была уметь защитить себя в любой ситуации. Плюс, это довольно гармонично развивающая физическая подготовка.

[@Sinewmire]

It's also a high-class pursuit, and the companions are very much intended to fit into high class society

[@kirkdarling4120]

River understood the crew needed a diversion and provided it, but they didn't catch on in time. A woman who is nice to look at and can talk tech like a guy. Low stress and fun. Very attractive at a party. Selling the cattle off-world...it might be that on a developing world they're keeping valuable resources on the planet to stabilize local prices...but prices are better off-world. I do think Firefly would have found its audience if given a proper opportunity. Everything they did in handling it was geared toward killing it, regardless of its qualities.

[@DocMicrowave]

Well said. I never thought of looking at River's act like that. She knew (sensed?) they needed a distraction, so she came in and did it. But the distraction worked too well, as the crew was distracted as well. Only go it after the fact. And yeah, she just pulled Badger's accent and background right out of his head. Did the same thing earlier in the last episode. Picking up the Town leaders thoughts, the mute girl.

[@jerryfick613]

As to the smuggling of the cargo(cattle). Persephone is presumably a planet well suited for growing cattle. The well-to-dos on the planet like good beef, and they like it cheap. So they either bar beef producers from selling the cattle off planet, or they tax the sale of cattle off planet prohibitively. As long as Lord Harrow can account for the loss of the beef, and increase in his available cash. He needs a smuggler to take the cattle off world (without the overlords seeing) and selling it elsewhere without accounting for where it came from.

[@RamblersInc]

Did they explain this properly in the episode because I feel like I understood it better from you.

[@adamwells9352]

"How did she just do that!?!" Always a pertinent question with River. ...I think Mal has some serious difficulty expressing attachment of almost any kind, if that casts any light on his behavior.

[@wolandbegemotazazello]

Dudes, those who know their film history know that Firefly is John Ford's Stagecoach, itself based on a famous De Maupassant short story titled Boule de Suif meets Howard Hawks's chosen family professionalism metes Hitchcock suspense, wit, and dark humour meets Shakesepare wit, humour, and genre blending. Whedon, by the way, is a Winchester College lad. Whedon also took a degree in Film Studies from Weleyan where they watch films in general including films by the " panthon directors noted about. In other words, he well knows the global history of cinema. Those who know history know that Firefly is working with real life metaphors, namely, the reality of rich core nations (obviously the Alliance) and poor peripheral nations, (those frontier planets beyond the Alliance), you know the ones that are "new frontiers". Obviously you need to think Geisha for Inara. After all the world of Firefly is heavily tinged with the "orient".

[@RamblersInc]

Thanks for the info. I think the genre blend done so well is why in part this is so gripping for us.

[@gingerbill128]

Enjoying these and subscribed

[@larrystuder6378]

There are gearheads in the 26th century, only instead of muscle cars or bikes, they do spaceships. And Kaylee WOULD find them and fit in perfectly...

[@RamblersInc]

facts.

[@natalielang6209]

I enjoyed your reaction to this and the discussion after. It only gets better so be prepared to be as upset as the rest of us when it's over.

[@Finians_Mancave]

When Mal insults Kaylee about "flouncing around the engine room like a sheep on its hind legs", he wasn't consciously being a "dickhead" or trying to be mean. He was still angry and jealous from his talk with Inara in the previous scene. So later, it's only when Kaylee mentions Inara that Mal lashes out at her. Was it insensitive? Of course (No one likes to see sweet Kaylee being hurt!), but we don't normally see Mal saying malicious things to anyone who isn't deserving.... except Inara! That's because he has feelings for her and is jealous of the men she is with. Context makes all the difference to a character or scene!

[@ernesthakey3396]

He had also just suggested they get a move on because what he was carrying wasn't light, and everyone ignored him.

[@RamblersInc]

Fair point. That look Zoe gave him though 😳😂

[@ernesthakey3396]

@@RamblersInc yep - NOBODY gets to make Kaylee feel bad, it is just not allowed!

[@wagnarokkr]

19:12 atherton is good at sword duels that have rules and protocols but not very good at actual knock-down drag-out fighting. it's like what mal said to inara earlier - the rules make him a slave.

[@michaelrunnels7660]

When you are a settler trying to survive, food is more precious than gold. When you're in the wilderness, a hovercraft is nice, but a horse is better. When you have nothing but the basics to live on, a strawberry has enough value to pay for a ride. When you are hungry, cows are much more desireable than fancy clothes.

[@RamblersInc]

Well said.

[@Yarovrat]

Один любимых смешных моментов эпизода, когда Инара сначала укоряет Атертона за грубое ругательство, но через некоторое время, увидев входящего Мела, сама произносит ругательство за которое только что делала замечание)) Про сцены в первой части эпизода, когда Ривер срывала этикетки с банок. Почти все сцены с Ривер имеют значение. И в некоторых эпизодах, то что говорит или делает Ривер связано с тем что будет в эпизоде дальше или с главной мыслью эпизода. Так происходит в этой серии и так будет ещё в некоторых следующих. В данном случае, когда Ривер срывает этикетки, это аллюзия на то о чём говорит эпизод - что не имеет значение как выглядит человек, что на нём надето, как обложка. Под красивой обложкой может скрываться кто-то неизвестный и даже совершенно гнилой как человек. Такие светские девушки буллившие Кейли или Атертон, которые имели очень красивую "этикетку")) Это первый и довольно очевидный слой, который может понять любой зритель. Но, есть ещё второй слой, для фанатов и знатоков вселенной. Он в том, какие именно там банки, какой компании. Но, об этом лучше позже))

[@RamblersInc]

Ooooohhhhh. That's actually a really good metaphor. Good catch.

[@Aeroldoth3]

"Property" refers to anything you own, usually only used for things of value. Buildings, land, cars, weapons, art, jewels... slaves.

[@RamblersInc]

Never hire us to solve a case 😂

[@Aeroldoth3]

@@RamblersIncI've lost my mind... can you help me find it?

[@RamblersInc]

🤣🤣🤣

[@ThePharaz]

I've explained this to nearly every reactor of Firefly. I hope one of you actually read this. The executive that green-lit the series was promoted. The executive replacement wanted to cancel the show before it ever aired but knew he couldn't without good reason. First, the promotion material and ADs for the show were misleading targeting the wrong audience. Second, they told the people of Firefly that the 2-hour pilot was unacceptable at the last minute thus the Train Job aired as the first episode. Third, several episodes were aired out of order. Fourth, the air time was changed without notice. Fifth, viewership fell to the point he was able to cancel the series after 10 episodes. The 2-hour pilot aired after the series was canceled. Sixth, the 3 unaired episodes aired over the summer unannounced. Most people have no clue they ever aired.

[@RamblersInc]

Just a complete mess in execution.

[@ThePharaz]

@@RamblersIncIt was intentional by the replacing executive.

[@Markus117d]

Some of the reasons this show had poor initial ratings is one the network didn't even air the episodes in order. Two it had a bad time slot that only got worse as the network kept moving the show around the schedules to worse & worse time slots, and thirdly the network canceled the show before it even finished its first season.. Meaning not only was the production cut short ( Remember most shows had 20+ episodes per season at the time Firefly was created ) it also meant that of the episodes that did get made, Some never got aired at all.. The only reason people got to see those episodes was because of the DVD box set release.. That's fairly impossible odds for a brand new show to overcome.. And yet in a way it has, Becides of the DVD's where people got to watch the shows episodes in order, when was a good time for them Ie not 1am or such, and they got to see the remaining episodes that were never broadcast.. Despite these beginnings this show has built a fan base to rival many long running shows with hundreds of episodes.

[@boqndimitrov8693]

hello space cows! a unique moment in fantasy series history!! 😅

[@RamblersInc]

Never seen before and I don't think I'll ever see again 😂

[@snarflcat6187]

Firefly does have a strange dynamic for a TV show. There are 8 main characters (Serenity is number 8) and none of those 8 are secondary characters. Which is one reason why I think Fox executives couldn’t handle the show. It was, quite frankly, revolutionary. Beyond their small small minds to comprehend.

[@RamblersInc]

Such a shame

[@michaelflower6172]

You have to rethink in 19th century terms as what was considered “Property”, which anything and everything possessable to a property owner, which also included slaves and your wife which in the Old West was considered property…

[@RamblersInc]

Yep. We made the mistake of thinking property = building instead of property = any asset you own.

[@adamcashin4021]

I think Firefly's problem was that it was Sci Fi at a time when the American networks didn't trust Sci Fi. the Special Effects were a lot more expensive back then and no Sci Fi show ever really lasted unless disguised as procedural like X-Files and set on Earth. Joss Whedon was a successful writer and producer. Fox effectively gave him a blank check to do whatever he wanted, but were probably wanting another Buffy. The pilot cost $8million. They pretty much had to air the show, but had no faith in it; so stuck it on Friday night with little advertising. They also interfered with the running order. You are watching the show in the way Whedon intended it. Fox actually ran the Pilot as the series finale. The running order was 2, 3, 6, week off, 7, 8, 4, 5, 9, two weeks off, 10, 14, 1. Episodes 11-13 never aired originally until the show launched in the UK. Even so the ratings were not terrible, they were actually better than what Buffy was getting at the time in a better time slot. But Fox was a bigger network than UPN (Buffy) and expected better.

[@Br0nto5aurus]

It always kills me to watch those girls be mean to Kaylee.

[@RobynHoodeofSherwood]

But it's so satisfying when that gentleman comes to her defense.

[@ernesthakey3396]

It took him the space of a schoolboy's wink to take her down!

[@xConundrumx]

Wait until these 2 figure out River...

[@johncampbell756]

The show was canceled because it aired in the Friday death slot (nitorious for low ratings. Shoes would get moved there for their finsl seasons when their rsting had dropped, but not enough to iutright cancel them. The pilot didn't air until it was canceed. The episodes were aired out of order. The pilot was necessary understand the series.

[@randalthor741]

Firefly had low ratings and got cancelled because: 1. Fox did a terrible job of promoting it (I should have been the exact target audience for the show, but I never heard of it when it was on the air & I didn't discover it until many years later on DVD) 2. Fox aired all the episodes out of order (at the time most shows on TV didn't need to be watched in order, but Firefly really isn't the kind of show you can watch out of order) 3. Fox kept changing the timeslot and pre-empting the show for sports and stuff. Basically, when it was greenlit, Firefly was the baby of one particular Fox executive, but then he left in a studio shakeup, and his replacement didn't like the show (more likely she just didn't like that it was associated with her predecessor) and decided to make sure Firefly didn't find an audience so she could justify cancelling it.

[@stue2298]

The bullying of Kaylee by those upper class bitches, modern writers would have had Kaylee come up with some witty line to defend herself, this would have been completely out of character because Kaylee is so nice, sweet and naive. The older man defending her gave Kaylee the chance to impress and become the centre of attention just not from the older men but the younger men too, who before was ignoring her. Just some great writing.

[@RamblersInc]

That bit was brilliant. And then when she had an entire crowd around her when shewas talking about ships.

[@HalkerVeil]

It's funny people find what Inara does as weird. It's legal in many western cultures even now. America "the free" is one of the few where it's illegal. Unless you are filming it and putting it online.

[@HalkerVeil]

The show didn't have bad ratings. It had been sabotaged by Fox on purpose after management changed. They played the episodes out of order on purpose, changed it's time slots around multiple times, and used all of that as an excuse to cancel it. When they just wanted to make room for another show from new management.

[@RamblersInc]

Damn. Cut down before it had a chance. This show seems to be the perfect example of "what if".

[@williamberry9013]

Last week I made fun of you for never being arrested; this week for not knowing about chattel property:). You guys don't know about smuggling either. A big thing in the 1970s was smuggling cigarettes into Italy. In the American colonies smuggling molasses and rum was big. The item is rarely evil, the law against is, though.

[@RamblersInc]

Cigarettes needed to be smuggled in the 70's? wow. Yeh I don't know why our minds were stuck on property=building. We'd make great detectives 🤣

[@GogoFly68]

The video you should watch after you watch the 14 episodes. Firefly: The BIG MISTAKES Never Mentioned that REALLY ended the Show! kzbin.info/www/bejne/j4DOdKmhl9ysa8U

[@Sinewmire]

Mal and Inara are in love, but can't get on because of their political and social beliefs, as this episode shows. Mal hates the formality and impersonality of high society - the Companions are the epitome of this, where the rich and influential can buy all the appearance of love, but it's fake. Clean, plastic, beautiful, empty, like the Alliance. Conversely, Mal's world is dirty, dangerous, ugly, full of betrayal, criminals and horrible people like Badger and Niska, and Inara thinks the world would be safer, cleaner, more orderly and more lawful if things were more like the circles she moved in. They also love each other because of who they are. Inara's courtly elegance, manners and style are part of the Alliance's high society, and Mal's unpredictability, resourcefulness and independence are as much a part of the low, criminal circles he moves in. These are the things that attract them to each other, in my opinion.

[@RamblersInc]

yeh that's tricky. If they'd never change their beliefs it almost sounds like a "what could have been" type of situation.

[@maidden]

NOT REAL ESTATE PROPERTY lmao

[@StevesFunhouse]

What happened to this show is the corporate execs at Fox were idiots. They didn't think that the audience was smart enough to understand the first episode, so they made Joss Weadon present a new one, The Train Job, which Joss and staff wrote over the weekend. Then they aired various episodes out of order, further confusing the audience. The final nail 💅 in their coffin ⚰was Fox moved them to the Friday evening time slot, a literal death knell for the series, as, at least in the States, everyone goes out on Friday Nights meaning, there's no audience to watch the show. So, of course, the ratings were hideously low. It certainly seems like someone there either didn't know what they were doing, or were purposefully sabotaging the show for some unknow reason. Maybe they made a deal with another show to get them off the air so the other show could get a slot, or maybe they had something against Joss Weadon. Either way, I hope there's a red hot poker waiting for them when they get to Hell !!!

[@I_leave_mean_comments]

Later in the series, you see that regular prostitutes are not treated well... BUT COMPANIONS... They have YEARS of training and are basically like nobility.