Giveaway: Firefly: Still Flying, The Ultimate Fan Book

Oh my goodness, it’s so hard to choose. But “Out of Gas” is my favorite. The pacing, the lighting, the flash forward and flashback, all the neat little interspersed scenes…I love that damn episode. It breaks my heart a little every time I watch this episode, and I think that’s cool.

It’s really hard to choose because all the episodes are SO good, but I’m gonna have to go with “Shindig” because of one specific scene. I always really loved Kaylee…she’s a female mechanic, I’m a female engineer. But despite our traditionally “male” jobs, we both like pretty, girly things. And there’s that one scene in “Shindig” where Kaylee’s wearing her pouffy pink dress, happily chatting about engines, surrounded by gentlemen hanging on her every word and bringing her treats from the buffet table.
To me, that scene is a COSMIC win.

Although I absolutely loved “Out of Gas”, my favorite has to be “Jaynestown”. The comedy of finding a town that thinks of Jayne as a folk hero is eerie and hilarious at the same time. However, the elements of drama towards the end show a different side of Jayne you don’t ever really see portrayed in any other episode that give you a glimpse of Jayne really is. I have to admit picking a favorite is really tough.

PS also: “Mercy is the mark of a great man (poke) I guess I’m just a good man (poke) Well I’m alright…”

Mal: Jayne?
Jayne: Yeah Mal?
Mal: You wanna tell me how come there’s a statue of you here lookin’ at me like I owe him somethin’?

Classic

I didn’t really have to think much on this one, much like my favorite character – my favorite episode is “Jaynestown.” I love every part of this episode – the locale (a planet with valuable “mud”), the villain (brilliantly played by Greg Itzin), the banter (Kaylee and Simon get drunk!), the unexpected (Jayne’s a hero?) and the message (manhood is determined by principle, hope is worth protecting).

What the episode really does best though is embody why Firefly is so compelling – it’s timeless. Even without spaceships, other languages, or another planet, the characters, story and action leave you thinking – and questions are left unanswered. *Spoiler Alert* When the townsperson takes a bullet for Jayne even after everyone’s found out that his intentions weren’t honorable, it perplexes Jayne and the crew and the audience. Why would someone do that? Protect a source of hope even if it’s foundation wasn’t solid? Again, it’s not about spaceships or even the wild west – it’s about people. I still don’t have an answer for those questions.

Also, come on. Who doesn’t love the scene when Jayne is in the bar singing along to his own folk hero song? Priceless.

While The Train Job was the 2nd episode overall but the first to air, there was a great scene for Mal towards the end of the episode which is great example of who Mal is like. Towards the end, Mal is refusing to do the job he was hired and he is explaining this one of Ninska’s henchmen. Since this goon refused, Mal kicks into the vents of Serenity and ‘poof’ gets sucked in. Mal then tells the next henchman the same line of dialogue about not taking the job. The look on this henchman’s face was fantastic. This was a classic moment for Mal and this won me over as a Firefly fan. Good times, indeed.

My favorite episode is easily “Our Mrs. Reynolds”.

In addition to Mal dressing up as a woman, which is, in and of itself, hilarious (“I married me a POWERFUL ugly woman”), there are the scenes between Mal and Jayne, and Mal and Book that are filled with some of the best lines from the series.

Book to Mal: “If you take sexual advantage of her, you’re going to burn in a very special level of Hell. A level they reserve for child molesters and people who talk at the theater.”

This is the episode that inspired me to name my computer Vera, also. Taken from this quote:

Mal: Da-shiong bao-jah-shr duh la doo-tze… Are you offering me a trade?
Jayne: A trade? Hell, that’s theft! This is the best damn gun made by man. It has extreme sentimental value. It’s miles more worthy’n what you got.
Mal: What I got? She has a name!
Jayne: So does this! [caresses the gun lovingly] I call it Vera.

Agh! I can’t say all of them? Well then, its down to War Stories or The Message.

I’m so stuck. War stories is Wash being awesome, and a preacher shooting people in the knee! And and and…

And then The Message is highly emotive, really flushes out the captain and that music!

You’re a horrible one to make me choose, but if I had to… it’d be War Stories by a single hair. Its so packed full of awesome (character development, action, lover’s quarrel) that you couldn’t call it less amazing than any of the other episodes. Best villain from the series on top of it.

Burn the land and boil the sea
You need to send that book to me…

Out of Gas. Not only was it a sort of origin story, the structure with the flashbacks within flashbacks of injured Mal trying to fix Serenity while we found out both what happened to the ship and how they all came on-board was just some awesome story telling. And we found that Jayne’s price was his own room…

I love Objects in Space.
“Psychic though? That sounds like something out of science fiction!”
“We live in a spaceship, dear.”
“So?”
OR
“You folks are all insane.”
“Well, my sister’s a ship; we had a complicated childhood.”
AND
The opening scene is the first time we really see into River’s “altered reality matrix.” I also think how River bends down entirely from the waist when picking up the sick/gun is a neat shtick.
And also, even though it’s not from this episode, I can kill you with my brain.

“The Message” is my favorite episode as it’s the one where Jayne arrives to a space station to find that his mother has sent him a home-knitted cap, and he proudly dons it. He wears it for the rest of the series.

It shows that even the toughest character on the show still has a soft spot for his mother.

Won’t vote on favorite episode. However, my favorite Mal line comes from Heart of Gold “Lady, you’re my kind of stupid.”

Then, of course there is, out of the movie, “So I take it you were all listening? Did you hear us argue? TRAP!!”

And finally, from the first episode …
Mal: “Well, you were right about this being a bad idea.”
Zoe: “Thank you for saying so, sir.”

OR

Mal “Well, I have to go check on how the mutiny is coming along.”
Sigh!!!

It’s so hard to choose! I think I’ll have to say my favorite episode was “Out of Gas.” It was excited and suspenseful, plus gave the back story to the characters.

“The Message,” although it is a tough choice. In the end, “The Message” wins because of how deeply it pulls at your heart strings, and I’m a big drama and character boy. By the end of the episode I was practically crying; it just perfectly imparts that sense of loss both in the story and in the series being canceled. The music was amazing as well in capturing the mood and pulling you in. I think further it’s an incredible example of how the writing, directing, characters, and frankly everything about the show is brilliant; it can make you laugh and cry and think and sympathize on a gut level. Plus there’s so much drama to be had when the alliance is attacking them and then Kaylee is taken hostage by Tracey!

Okay guys, thank you all so much for talking about your favorite Firefly episodes. Great stuff.

That said the winner is ….

Kristin!

Congrats. I’ll be emailing you in a minute for your address, but just in case you don’t hear from me, send your address into tips@techland.com.

Thanks for entering everybody!