Firefly Marathon #1: Serenity

"Curse your sudden but inevitable betrayal!"

To start the marathon, I'll look at the pilot episode, Serenity (not to be confused with the film of the same name). Presumably, this was a two-part episode, but most releases present it as a single feature-length one.

Like Star Wars, the show opens during a period of civil war. Sergeant Malcolm Reynolds and Corporal Zoe Alleyne are Independants fighting the Union of Allied Planets (The Alliance) until their defeat at the Battle of Serenity Valley. Six years later, Mal is the captain and owner of a tramp freighter named Serenity, with Zoe serving as his second-in-command. The rest of the crew include: Zoe's husband Wash, the ship's goofy pilot; Kaylee Frye, the overly optimistic mechanic; and Jayne Cobb, a crude and power-hungry mercenary. Also travelling with the crew is Inara Serra, a high-class escort known as a Companion who rents one of the shuttles on board Serenity.

Anyway, first part follows the crew as they loot cargo from a derelict, avoiding an Alliance cruiser in the process. On the planet Persephone, they attempt to deliver the cargo to their contact, a local crime boss named Badger. Unfortunately, Badger reneges on the deal because he doesn't like how Mal looks down on him and has seen an Alliance bulletin about a Firefly-class transport carrying stolen goods. Mal opts to take the goods to another associate named Patience on the frontier planet Whitefall. to supplement their income, they take on several passengers: an aloof doctor named Simon Tam, who has brought aboard a mysterious box; a wandering preacher (Shepherd) named Book; and a clumsy man called Dobson. However, they soon discover that these passengers aren't what they seem, and when Wash blocks a call to the alliance, they discover a mole on board.

This portion of the episode tries to build up that Simon is the mole. Since the opening credits give things away, I might as well spoil it. Dobson is revealed to be an Alliance agent, and he's after Simon rather than Mal. When Kaylee is shot during the confrontation, Book subdues Dobson and they're forced to flee the Alliance when Simon refuses to treat Kaylee if he hands them over. The crew then discover that Simon has been transporting his younger sister River, a teenage prodigy whom he had broken out of an Alliance research facility.

Anyway, the second part mostly deals with the aftermath of this while the crew still travel to Whitefall to meet with Patience. En route, they encounter a passing ship crewed by Reavers. It creates a tense scene as they're unsure whether or not the Reavers will attack, and you can feel the terror the crew are feeling as they discuss it. There's also a good source of tension as Simon tries to keep Kaylee alive to avoid being killed himself (which comes brings with it a comedic payoff).

Upon arriving at Whitefall, the episode piles on the jeopardy as Patience tries to backstab Mal and Zoe, Dobson escapes from his restraints and captures River, and the Reaver ship turns around to follow Serenity.

Overall, it's a pretty good pilot episode. It establishes the main characters really well, and you can sympathise with their plights even if they're not the most heroic people around. My favourite moment (other than the payoff to Simon's struggle) is probably Wash's introduction shown by the image. Sure, he's goofy when he's playing with plastic dinosaurs, but when the Reaver ship chases Serenity he becomes calmer and more collected than anyone else on the crew.

Unfortunately, Fox weren't too happy with the pilot episode (except for the payoff to Simon's struggle) and asked for something more action-packed. I'll look at that one tomorrow.