Which one is your least favourite Firefly episode?

POSTED BY: Khyron
UPDATED: Thursday, March 22, 2007 00:07
VIEWED: 56043
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KAIN

Saturday, May 27, 2006 6:42 AM

Well if you have to pick a least favorite episode of the best show ever....The Message, but just becuz u know it was the funeral scene for the series and it's depressing.

Kain

YT

Sunday, June 4, 2006 1:57 AM

War Stories, by far. How do I loathe thee? Let me count the ways:
Book's line at the snatch scene. Laser sights? He can tell that from the wounds? Ridiculous. He could have said that all three were shot in the face, without even time to duck. That calls for either a Magic Bullet, or three marksmen. So much talent not often found on a ship; more likely a space station.
Niska (who is familiar with the works of poetical psychotic dictators), and his professional torturer, decide to torture Mal & Wash, together (ie at the same time), but oriented so they can't see each other. Even if Niska was just a Sadist, the professional should have known this is the least effective scenario. Better to torture them separately; much better to torture one in view of the other.
The torturers never interrupt the dialogue betwixt Mal & Wash.
When Zoe ransoms Wash, she helps him from Niska's Skyplex. Wash slumps to his knees shortly after entering Serenity, yet when Zoe says Niska will torture Mal for days, Wash stands up and shows no further effects from the torture. Obviously, the torture wasn't serious.
Wash flies Serenity into Niska's Skyplex without slowing down. Not only does this not damage the Skyplex, nor even Serenity, but the airlocks get a good seal. No, this must be what "Ridiculous" feels like.
*** Why can't Joss or Tim ask for advice when they get into something they know nothing about? (eg shooting, torture, physics, anything involving action) ***
Mal is tortured to death, then resuscitated. Yet upon being left alone for a minute, Mal is able to arise, without making a sound, and strike Niska with enough force to knock him down.
And lest we forget, the crew stole medicine on a Core world, then fled to the Rim to fence it. They'd already sold some of it, perhaps most, and been paid. Why the !@#$%^&*()_+{}:"<>? did they go to the world Niska's Skyplex orbits?

This episode never really took place. It's all Wash's wet dream. Sure, the ep contains the most comprehensive, and concentrated, depiction of Wash's character (his weakness, petulance, selfishness, jealousy, cowardice, and inability to appreciate anyone's responsibilities on Serenity, not even his own), but that's a tad too concentrated for me. War Stories has no redeeming value.

Quote:
Originally posted by Khyron:
so is The Message, even though I thought there was some great drama (and a great musical score accompanying the funeral scene), but there were just too many loop holes in that one to make it enjoyable. Had the story been written in a way that avoids those loopholes but arrives at the same conclusion, then this might have been one of my favourites.

The last 8 minutes makes me forget the problems with the third 1/4, but I heartily endorse your last point.

Keep the Shiny Side Up . . .

HURRICANEEZ1

Sunday, June 4, 2006 7:58 PM

I would say "Safe" but the ending was so cool that I cant put it down there. "Yeah...but she's our witch...now cut her down" is a classic line.

MRSU

Monday, June 5, 2006 5:00 PM

I'm a 2-week-old fan and only watched the series twice - so far. :)

But I guess I already have the episode which I like the least: that would be "Message".
I think Tracey is very creepy and unpleasant: both to look at and to listen to. I want to fast-forward him all the time as he gets to my stomach. Him being "dead" and stuffed with all those organs doesn't help either.

Also I'm in the camp with those who think that Kaylee is being mean with Simon, and not only in this episode. She comes off looking more fool than him, plus he doesn't mean to offend with his goofs, but she does - when she retorts to him. I understand that she is young and insecure, and of course young people can hurt each others feelings a lot when dating - that's the part of growing up. I guess I'm just so past this stage that I can't remember how it was - and sympathize. :)

I like the final scene and the music there. But what spoils it for me a bit is that Simon there looks like young John Cleese from some early Monty Python.

YT

Tuesday, June 6, 2006 2:06 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by sneaker98:
Why are so many people hating The Message?

A lot of (other) folks complain that Mal should have explained the plan to Tracy. What really bugs me is the basic setup for the ep: Tracy decides to stiff one organ smuggler for a better deal from someone else? What makes him think the new buyer would even try to revive him? Like Khyron, I'm sure a far better setup could have been written that still led to the same ep. But I don't see how the ending could've worked if Mal had explained the plan to Tracy.

Keep the Shiny Side Up . . .

ELWOODMOM

Tuesday, June 6, 2006 2:12 AM

I'd have to say that my favorite episodes are Ariel and War Stories. I wasn't able to watch Heart of Gold in its entirety, there was a flaw on my DVD set.

YT

Tuesday, June 6, 2006 3:30 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by usagivindaloo:
The Message,
2) Look, I know that Simon is awkward and inept at talking to women, but jeez, Kaylee was a real bitch to him in this episode.
...snip...
But no, she treats him horribly for the rest of the episode until the very end. Which would be OK if the episode at least indicated that Kaylee is WRONG for behaving this way, that the mature response would be to giggle at Simon's awkwardness and let it pass! This complaint is also relevant in Safe (another of my least favourite episodes) and Jaynestown (though there it is redeemed by the scene in his room where he explains his politeness is his way of showing respect to her... did she just forget that?)

Wow, I never thought of that. Wonder if Joss did?

Keep the Shiny Side Up . . .

AGENTROUKA

Thursday, June 8, 2006 9:43 AM

I'm really not sure...

EVERY episode, even the very best, even "Out of Gas" has its plotholes, but with the very best you don't notice so much.

I guess the ones I re-watch the least are:

"Shindig" - Atherton was made so pointlessly wooden! Why couldn't they have let him stay charming and made it a real "win" for Mal, as opposed to him being the obvious better choice because "Ath Is Evil!" That was... stupid. Mainly because it makes Inara look stupid, which we know she is not.

"Our Mrs. Reynolds" - I love Saffron, and it has great character moments and hilarious bits, but I just can't get over the ridiculousness that no one on that boat questions the validity of a marriage that takes place without one party knowing about it. Meh. Instead they all blame Mal as if he's always been the posterchild for slavery or such. Huh?

"Heart of Gold" - again with the wooden villain. And Mal's showdown with Burgess... Gah. I can't watch it it's so silly and really takes away from the brilliance of the character development that takes place in that episode.
I mean, they have such great moments there and then? Battery jokes? Funny-looking horse-riding?

But that's it. All other episodes dazzle away their (fewer) shaky parts with the brilliance of everything else.

One thought for "The Message":
What if Mal's not telling Tracey about the plan was intentional? The moment Tracey pulls that gun on them in the cockpit, Mal decides that he a threat to Serenity, nothing more nothing less, and there is exactly one course of action left to follow: eliminate.
It's stupid because it ends up endangering Kaylee, but it really is the only hand-waving reason I can come up with that explains Mal's not opening his mouth and explaining the plan, AND it adds a nice, twisted, dark shade to the action and Mal's fatherly gentleness once Tracey is no longer a threat. *g*

JREZ

Friday, June 30, 2006 12:10 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by YT:
War Stories, by far. How do I loathe thee? Let me count the ways:
Book's line at the snatch scene. Laser sights? He can tell that from the wounds? Ridiculous. He could have said that all three were shot in the face, without even time to duck. That calls for either a Magic Bullet, or three marksmen. So much talent not often found on a ship; more likely a space station.
Niska (who is familiar with the works of poetical psychotic dictators), and his professional torturer, decide to torture Mal & Wash, together (ie at the same time), but oriented so they can't see each other. Even if Niska was just a Sadist, the professional should have known this is the least effective scenario. Better to torture them separately; much better to torture one in view of the other.
The torturers never interrupt the dialogue betwixt Mal & Wash.
When Zoe ransoms Wash, she helps him from Niska's Skyplex. Wash slumps to his knees shortly after entering Serenity, yet when Zoe says Niska will torture Mal for days, Wash stands up and shows no further effects from the torture. Obviously, the torture wasn't serious.
Wash flies Serenity into Niska's Skyplex without slowing down. Not only does this not damage the Skyplex, nor even Serenity, but the airlocks get a good seal. No, this must be what "Ridiculous" feels like.
*** Why can't Joss or Tim ask for advice when they get into something they know nothing about? (eg shooting, torture, physics, anything involving action) ***
Mal is tortured to death, then resuscitated. Yet upon being left alone for a minute, Mal is able to arise, without making a sound, and strike Niska with enough force to knock him down.
And lest we forget, the crew stole medicine on a Core world, then fled to the Rim to fence it. They'd already sold some of it, perhaps most, and been paid. Why the !@#$%^&*()_+{}:"<>? did they go to the world Niska's Skyplex orbits?

War Stories has no redeeming value.

I'd have to agree with YT here. War Stories is my least favorite. Niska's quoting of Shan Yu right after Book and Simon's discussion of the dictator was a little too neat and tidy. And Niska's hammy performance doesn't help.

The episode seemed a little desperate to me - torture, lesbian sex, a gun-slinging shoot-em-up finale, etc. It was the first episode I watched where I really felt the writing was sub-par. Sure, other episodes have plot holes, but I can overlook them because the basic writing and the characters are so good. But I felt like this episode was playing a little too fast and loose with the characters. Mal telling Wash he's going to sleep with Zoe during the torture scene left a bad taste in my mouth, even though it was justified by him keeping Wash awake. I dunno, it just seemed like this episode wasn't trying as hard as some of the others.

I also agree that many of the action scenes in the series could have used a little more expertise (does it bother anyone else that during flashback scenes of the war, Mal is always shooting from the hip, something that a trained soldier would never, ever do?)

But hey, I'd still probably rather watch this episode than just about anything else on TV. Except for new episodes of Firefly.

EXODUS

Sunday, July 2, 2006 5:29 AM

I found Jaynestown to be my least favourite episode. I never really liked the idea of Jayne being a hero nor did I like the planet they were on and the people that inhabited it. I never really hated this episode, it was just not as appealing as the other episodes.

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