favorite episode and reasons why

POSTED BY: zark1976
UPDATED: Sunday, February 27, 2005 18:50
VIEWED: 13679
PAGE 1 of 4

1 2 3 4 NEXT PAGE

ZARK1976

Wednesday, June 23, 2004 4:09 PM

Hey everybody, someone probably started a thread like this at some point, but I figured for us noobs I would restart it. What's your favorite episode, and 5 reasons why? It's sort of an essay thread. I should'a been a teacher to give out nasty homework like this.

I know for some it's a toss up as to their favorite episode, but most people have a defining episode.
For me it's Objects in Space, sadly the last episode of the series, but deffinitely a very strong finish.

1. great moment, river in the cargo bay, extreme concentration on that stick, bent double with her ace near her feet to look at it, when she picks it up, a shot from above of the cargo bay, leaves scattered about, beautiful framing of that shot.
2. Jubal Early - For me, one of the most interesting characters introduced in Firefly. Maybe I just go in for people spouting endless streams of consciousness, but at least he was lyrical and intelligent sounding.
3. A look into the secret side of the firefly crew, Simon's secretly resentful, Jayne's secretly afraid, Book is secretly angry, Inara is hurt, and Mal is lost. Lots to work with here for future stories.
4. River becomes a worthy character. She really steps out of the whack job mold and shows the intelligence that they hinted at in the first episode.
5. Jayne - ok admittedly, he's my favorite character and he does very little in this episode, but it is interesting what he does. He sleeps through an emergency, proclaims his sainthood, reminds people of River's expertise with butcher knives, and tries to take the conversation in a not Jayne's fault direction.

So there's my five reasons. Anyone willing to take me up on ,y challenge to quantify why they liked certain episodes the best?

"Could be he's harboring some resentment at us for putting his man through our engine."

DARKSKY

Wednesday, June 23, 2004 4:25 PM

Tough question! They are all good. I think I would go for either Objects in Space or Out of Gas. OiS pretty much for the same reasons you stated. Early is a really cool character.
But OoG has all those flashbacks on how the crew came on board. Plus it has lots of great music! Some really touching scenes when Mal is alone on the ship and there's this beautiful music.
I have to admit, I really can't decide.

DIGIFICWRITER

Wednesday, June 23, 2004 4:32 PM

I love Firefly as a whole, but if I had to choose ONE favorite episode, it'd be The Train Job. When I initially watched it in the order it is on the DVD, I thought it was a bit repetitive coming after the great pilot 'Serenity', but now, after having rewatched it, it makes a great second ep. Plus, it's got some great quotes and introduces us to the uber-creepy Adelai Niska.

Take my love
Take my land
Take me where I cannot stand
I don't care
I'm still free
You can't take the sky from me
Take me out to the black
Tell 'em I ain't comin' back
Burn the land and boil the sea
You can't take the sky from me
There's no place I can be
Since I've found Serenity
But you can't take the sky from me

BISHOP200

Wednesday, June 23, 2004 4:36 PM

Serenity, because that's where it all started. They are all so perfect, it is hard to choose one in particular. They are works of art in entertainment.

Bishop200

EVILTOBZ

Wednesday, June 23, 2004 4:39 PM

i have to go with our mrs reynolds, so erm... reasons:

1. saffron - i wanna go to the special hell. lots.
2. inara - a big part of my love/lust for her comes from the expressiveness of her face, the way she's upset when hearing mal is married, the big doe-eyes in her conversation with him at the end and that whole cute bit about how she 'just fell'. yum!
3. that's why i never kiss 'em on the mouth - that line made me laugh longer and harder than anything else has in years.
4 & 5 - well, thats gonna be inara and saffron again. phwoar.

---------------------------------------------
eviltobz - that's lowercase gorram it!

ZARK1976

Wednesday, June 23, 2004 6:21 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by eviltobz:

3. that's why i never kiss 'em on the mouth - that line made me laugh longer and harder than anything else has in years.

I completely agree that this quote is a great one. Actually Jayne makes pretty much any episode, because he's just as mean as I wanna be. Can you imagine offering to trade Vera for Saffron? it is the best gun made by man and has great sentimental value.

"Could be he's harboring some resentment at us for putting his man through our engine."

CALIGARI

Wednesday, June 23, 2004 6:39 PM

I'd say Out of Gas -
1 Stylisticly brilliant; too often teevee is used basically as "radio with pictures", this is an example of image delivering emotion and information, you can't just turn it on and walk out of the room and hope to follow what's going on. I'm also fond of non-linear storytelling. The shots that cross from flashback to present are great, moreso because they are done "in-camera", such as the camera dropping down as Mal and Zoe exit in the background, and the camera finds wounded Mal in the foreground as the lighting shifts from autumn hues to winter hues.
2 Nathan Fillion; I recently reviewed _Private Ryan_, and his small bit, while played for dark humor, was still wonderous. This episode is all about his work, and I'd hazard to guess this is an actor that has yet to demonstrate just how brilliant he can be.
3 Backstory; Where they all came from also gives us an idea of where they are going (except for that Book fella...).
4 The Black; It's mentioned in passing at various times about how fragile things are out in a tin can, but this shows how the reality is very much on the minds of all. The scene with them all sitting at the table during dinner and during the cake presentation shows their relationships between each other, but the scene when they divide up between the shuttles is a room full of very human fear, they are all, literally, on the same boat.
5 Emotional content; We get to see everyone happy and everyone scared, and from this we learn alot about them all. Jayne's line that shuts Mal and Wash up when they are arguing, Simon having the worst birthday ever and Inara comforting him, Wash and Mal both having to contend with the absence of Zoe at a moment of crisis. And the scene when Mal dropped the part kinda struck home for me, from those times when I battled with car repair and it's late at night and I'm tired and dirty and hungry and this last thing needs doing and suddenly it falls and lands dead center beneath the car and you don't know which to hit with the tire iron, you or the car.

I think that's enough for now....

SOUPCATCHER

Wednesday, June 23, 2004 8:06 PM

Always a fun thread! Maybe it's the academic in me, but I love to reference previous work(using the term work loosely). For those interested in surfing similar comments:
http://www.fireflyfans.net/thread.asp?b=4&t=3143
http://www.fireflyfans.net/thread.asp?b=4&t=4579
There are also discussions on particular episodes along with reviews and other information in the archives for this section. Just go to the following url and do a search for a word from the title of the particular episode (Control-F on pc, Apple-F on mac - not trying to be snarky, just trying to come at this from a lowest common denominator point of view).
http://www.fireflyfans.net/threadlist.asp?b=4&a=1

I shaved off my beard for you, devil woman!

SWEETVINEGAR

Tuesday, June 29, 2004 11:09 PM

I would say Objects in Space is definately my favorite. Simply because it triggered such a strong emotional response in me. My eyes welled up twice (Yeah, big pansy here). No other episode of Firefly, or any show, has done that to me. Few movies do either. It was just completely brilliant, and struck a chord with me. Great stuff.

I also really liked some of the shots in that episode. particularly the one with Summer bending down to the stick. A joy for the eyes.

THEZOOMZOOMKID

Monday, July 5, 2004 4:04 AM

Ariel is a very exciting, fast paced episode that has a great ending. That' s my favorite ep.

1 2 3 4 NEXT PAGE