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Firefly
S1.E11
All episodesAll
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IMDbPro

Serenity

  • Episode aired Dec 20, 2002
  • TV-14
  • 1h 26m
IMDb RATING
8.8/10
6.1K
YOUR RATING
Alan Tudyk in Firefly (2002)
AdventureDramaSci-Fi

Malcolm Reynolds is a veteran and the captain of Serenity. He and his crew are smuggling goods, but they need to pick up some passengers for extra money. However, not all the passengers are ... Read allMalcolm Reynolds is a veteran and the captain of Serenity. He and his crew are smuggling goods, but they need to pick up some passengers for extra money. However, not all the passengers are what they seem.Malcolm Reynolds is a veteran and the captain of Serenity. He and his crew are smuggling goods, but they need to pick up some passengers for extra money. However, not all the passengers are what they seem.

  • Director
    • Joss Whedon
  • Writer
    • Joss Whedon
  • Stars
    • Nathan Fillion
    • Gina Torres
    • Alan Tudyk
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • IMDb RATING
    8.8/10
    6.1K
    YOUR RATING
    • Director
      • Joss Whedon
    • Writer
      • Joss Whedon
    • Stars
      • Nathan Fillion
      • Gina Torres
      • Alan Tudyk
    • 19User reviews
    • 9Critic reviews
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • See production info at IMDbPro
    • Awards
      • 1 win & 1 nomination total

    Photos16

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    Top Cast27

    Edit
    Nathan Fillion
    Nathan Fillion
    • Captain Malcolm 'Mal' Reynolds
    Gina Torres
    Gina Torres
    • Zoë Washburne
    Alan Tudyk
    Alan Tudyk
    • Hoban 'Wash' Washburne
    Morena Baccarin
    Morena Baccarin
    • Inara Serra
    Adam Baldwin
    Adam Baldwin
    • Jayne Cobb
    Jewel Staite
    Jewel Staite
    • Kaylee Frye
    Sean Maher
    Sean Maher
    • Dr. Simon Tam
    Summer Glau
    Summer Glau
    • River Tam
    Ron Glass
    Ron Glass
    • Shepherd Derrial Book
    Carlos Jacott
    Carlos Jacott
    • Lawrence Dobson
    Mark Sheppard
    Mark Sheppard
    • Badger
    • (as Mark A. Sheppard)
    Andy Umberger
    Andy Umberger
    • Dortmunder Captain
    Philip Sternberg
    Philip Sternberg
    • Inara's Client
    Eddie Adams
    • Bendis
    Colin Patrick Lynch
    Colin Patrick Lynch
    • Radio Operator
    Bonnie Bartlett
    Bonnie Bartlett
    • Patience
    Domingo Vara
    • Ensign
    Stephen O'Mahoney
    Stephen O'Mahoney
    • Man(Dortmunder)
    • Director
      • Joss Whedon
    • Writer
      • Joss Whedon
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

    User reviews19

    8.86.1K
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    10

    Featured reviews

    8nicofreezer

    Too complicated plot for a Pilot

    The plot was complicated and confusing, a TV show Pilot need to be clear, very clear and this episode was not at all, we start at the middle of the action like if we're supposed to know all these names and faction... But when their is like 10 names to remember, different faction ( alliance ? ) And nothing at all is explain it become confusing.

    I've try si hard to focus on the episode but no way to understand what was exactly going on.

    I guess there is a reason why Fox put the episode to aired in 11 position.

    I truly hope episode 2 ( first aired) will be more clear and easy to follow because I Can see potentiel here.

    And eventualy i might Come back to this episode and give it a 9/10 But as it is , its a 7/10 barely.

    Update ! : i just watch the first 30 seconds of episode 2 " The train wrack" and they explain everything in the intro... What a shame they did not do it in the Pilot episode, i totally understand Fox to aired episode 2 in first... Now is it too late for me to love the show, i Hope not , how 30 seconds not here can be a shame to a pilot episode... I would have understood everything.
    10rhoberta

    The luckdog you are incorrect this is the best show ever

    This is an excellent story and details are great. Take it from one that has been a fan of Sci-Fi. The story is great and will live on as Star Trek has lived on long after the show was cancelled. I am looking forward to the next movie as I am sure other fan's are across the world. Zoe is the best as well as the rest of the crew. I love her husband and the captain Mel. The show was on late and cancelled before I knew it was on. I bought the DVD and fell in love with the show and the characters. Joss Whedon is the best and a great story teller. The guy Jane is so lovable and the ship is the best. Zoe is so very very cool and River's character is the very very best. I cannot say enough about the series except it ended way to soon.
    1theluckdog

    What A Show.................

    ........and an extremely bad one at that!!! How long did this train-wreck last?? 14 episodes or something?? I can see why now.

    I bought the "Serenity" episode from Amazon Unboxed. It was my first purchase, so was free. That is the ONLY good thing about the experience (incident??)

    I won't comment really on the acting, since these were, I guess, fairly new people who hadn't really gotten the job down just right yet. At least I've never seen them before in any type of major show, theater or TV. If I did, then I have easily forgotten them.

    But the special effects were absolutely horrendous. True, this isn't exactly a multi-million $$ project, but the original Star Trek did better than this & that was THIRTY-FIVE YEARS ago. I especially got a laugh out of the bad guys (reapers or something like that) ship as it chased the hilarious looking Firefly, with smoke coming out of the engines looking something like a gigantic model rocket. I fully expected to eventually see the Wiley Coyote riding on top, while chasing after the Roadrunner. MODERN jet/rocket engines don't even do it that bad.

    And that wasn't even the worst of it. The wild-west type shoot-outs had me wondering if I was actually watching a sci-fi film or a Gene Autry one.

    Regardless of the hype, don't waste your time...I did...all 80-something minutes of the disaster called "Firefly".
    froggy3968

    Fantastic Series

    I've watched it all and loved it.If your into Sci-fi then you've obviously read Henlien, all his colony stuff reverted to the easiest to maintain technology for sustainability. Tractors need fuel and engineers and factories to make more .. Horses sort themselves out and make more naturally.Blacksmith forge requires less training to use than a precision lathe so you can guarantee that if you lose a few people in the colony you don't wind up in the dark ages until the next wave of settlers. The whole dirt grubbing mixed with high tech is like Africa today.. Obviously 'TheDog chap ' hasn't been out of his high tech playpen in a while if he can't understand this.

    Firefly is aimed at people who have at least two brain cells which is probably why the Execs at Fox cancelled it, They want shows aimed at the lowest common denominator .. Duh!.

    The interaction between crew members has depth you don't see in most programs and unlike star trek isn't clinical.It has elements that you can see from interactions with friends around you.The preacher and River was like watching an uncle left looking after a child and not having a clue.. And his hair.. so funny.. River swaps like a person on drugs and the engineer is so hot.

    So disappointing that they didn't make more, its' one of the few programs that where every episode was good.Not one episode of Firefly made me want to wander off, in fact you need to concentrate to catch all the nuances of it.

    There's humour, violence and a developing story. Preacher's Reference to Saffron as 'Special' is something you need to watch and pay attention to to get the meaning..

    I have like everyone favourite parts and not so favourite parts.. A duel where neither participant showed particular skill ( I was a fencer ) was acceptable as the comment about only toying with him explains.

    The engine designs a little iffy , health and safety would have stamped all over it if there was no way to stop someone getting caught in it , but oooh! it's not real, it's fiction and a damn sight more believable and interesting than most of the dross they serve up as entertainment.

    Buffy had the girl as the bait to watch but had an interaction between characters, Angel took that further and got more gritty and more believable ( Okay not Vampires and monsters, they just replaced the people in power ). FireFly goes one further, you feel lost at the end wanting to see the continuation of the character's lives.

    Very much worth a watch, get the DVD, get serenity the film and watch it you'll like it.
    10Quinoa1984

    aka Joss Whedon's Space Cowboys

    This is a bad-ass science-fiction/fantasy show that combines riveting melodrama, gritty action, surprisingly good visual effects (for TV at any rate), excellently drawn-out characters and story lines layers with apropos complexity without contrivance, and a quasi-Western theme. The music, not to mention the theme song, is explicitly Western in genre homage, and right off the bat in the pilot one sees that this will be something like a Western story. If one could make a comparison, the Sgt. Reynolds character played by Nathan Fillion becomes a rogue Captain of the ship Firefly after losing in war (i.e. Civil War, turned gunslinger, pirate, whatever). And, as the episode goes on, that a motif of scavengers having to deal with total scum business people- first the shyster in the Mos Eisley-esquire space port, then later with the old-lady gunslinger- one sees it beefed up more-so.

    It should be kinda strange, but the 'different' attitude doesn't feel at all out of place. On the contrary, as Whedon probably knows from the lineage of Star Wars, a Western backdrop out in space is just what's needed to keep the drama fresh. Whedon also has a strong knack at getting humorous moments, if not any real comedy, out of scenes and situations that could in other hands be total trash (i.e. mixing together a hooker character and a Shepherd character). On top of this, as just evidenced in the pilot episode that came first in chronology if not in original release date, Whedon is a really spot-on storyteller in getting the intended audience ready for more and more servings. Aside from the obvious- what will happen with that doctor and her fragile sister brought out of near hibernation (if you haven't seen the movie I won't say anything more)- all the characters, put on by actors like Alan Tudyk and Adam Baldwin and Gina Torres with brilliant ease- are perfectly relatable and interesting.

    Can't wait to see more! That's the bottom line, folks.

    Related interests

    Still frame
    Adventure
    Naomie Harris, Mahershala Ali, Janelle Monáe, André Holland, Herman Caheej McGloun, Edson Jean, Alex R. Hibbert, and Tanisha Cidel in Moonlight (2016)
    Drama
    James Earl Jones and David Prowse in Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980)
    Sci-Fi

    Storyline

    Edit

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      Although this was the original series pilot, introducing the characters and setting up their story arcs, it was the final episode broadcast in the show's original run on Fox.
    • Goofs
      Just after the crew escape from the Reavers using the 'Crazy Ivan', Wash is seen with his arm outstretched holding an imaginary steering wheel. This is explained by Joss Whedon on the DVD commentary; the makers had to pull the chair back in order to fit both Alan Tudyk and Gina Torres in the shot and Tudyk is simply miming steering the ship.
    • Quotes

      Wash's Stegosaurus: Yes. Yes, this is a fertile land, and we will thrive. We will rule over all this land, and we will call it... "This Land.".

      'Wash's Allosaurus: I think we should call it "your grave!".

      Wash's Stegosaurus: Ah, curse your sudden but inevitable betrayal!

      'Wash's Allosaurus: Har har har! Mine is an evil laugh! Now die!

      [the Allosaurus attacks the Stegosaurus]

      Wash's Stegosaurus: Oh, no, God! Oh, dear God in heaven!

    • Connections
      Featured in WatchMojo: Top 10 Pilot Episodes of TV Dramas (2014)
    • Soundtracks
      The Ballad of Serenity
      Written by Joss Whedon

      Performed by Sonny Rhodes

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    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • December 20, 2002 (United States)
    • Country of origin
      • United States
    • Languages
      • English
      • Mandarin
    • Filming locations
      • 20th Century Fox Studios - 10201 Pico Blvd., Century City, Los Angeles, California, USA(Studio)
    • Production companies
      • Mutant Enemy
      • 20th Century Fox Television
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Tech specs

    Edit
    • Runtime
      • 1h 26m(86 min)
    • Color
      • Color
    • Sound mix
      • Dolby Digital
    • Aspect ratio
      • 1.78 : 1

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