Episode order

POSTED BY: christhecynic
UPDATED: Wednesday, August 11, 2004 21:10
VIEWED: 9279
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CHRISTHECYNIC

Wednesday, June 30, 2004 11:07 AM

I haven’t gotten the DVDs yet
*Heretic Heretic Burn the witch*
They’re on the way
*Oh*
Anyway I don’t know the episode order on them. But I looked at the episodes page, and I saw the order that I had said. Now I remember being told explicitly, repeatedly, rudely, and other words ending in –ly that I was wrong.

Now was I actually right, or is the site incorrect?

HAKEN

Wednesday, June 30, 2004 11:09 AM

The site is wrong. I'm just lazy or busy. Probably the latter. I should correct it so that it matches that of the DVD.

CHRISTHECYNIC

Wednesday, June 30, 2004 11:19 AM

I figured, no way I could be right.

ECGORDON

Wednesday, June 30, 2004 11:37 AM

The order here is the production order, but the DVDs are supposedly in the order Joss wants them. Even if that would have been the order they would have aired had FOX let it go a few more weeks, I think that OiS is the best one to view last, and is probably the best lead-in to the BDM.

wo men ren ran zai fei xing.

PURPLEBELLY

Wednesday, June 30, 2004 12:19 PM

I've said this elsewhere, but can I make another plea for there being no correct order for the Firefly episodes? Events in some episodes are dependent on events in others. Whedon wanted Serenity to stand as the introduction to the 'verse. Objects in Space is probably most representative of Whedon's ideas, so is a good lead into the movie. But the rest is so influenced by the efforts of the production team to work with Fox Network, and that Network's failure to respond, that I think we should make the effort to appreciate the oeuvre as a whole - it's not that big.

I would hope that owners of the DVDs don't restrict themselves to reviewing the episodes in any strict order. Also, if you get into the significance of episode ordering, the orders that emerged for shooting, inital broadcast, subsequent overseas broadcasts and DVD publication each have a significance.

NEDWARD

Wednesday, June 30, 2004 12:41 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by PurpleBelly:
I've said this elsewhere, but can I make another plea for there being no correct order for the Firefly episodes?

Hear hear. I reckon the DVD order is what Joss would like us to think of as the order, now, but if the season hadn't been truncated, I think Joss' preferred order might look more like the production order (with Serenity as the real pilot, of course). Allowing for Fox's general Foxiness, that is.

Quote:
Events in some episodes are dependent on events in others.

e.g. the steals. Cows and Lasseters stolen at the end of one ep are still on the boat at the start of the next. I wonder, is this related to Fox's buying a certain number of eps at a time? Or is it a sneaky way on ME's part to link one ep to another, so that Fox might find it harder to split them apart?

RIVERSBOUNTY

Wednesday, June 30, 2004 1:29 PM

I have to disagree. If Joss says the episode order is meant to go a certain way, then it is. He's very particular about that, especially because unlike most TV shows, he's telling a story, and not just stringing self-contained hours together where the only thing to keep watching for is if that person ends up with that other person.

And this is just my opinion here, but it wouldn't make sense story-wise and character wise for Inara, to have "Trash" and then "The Message" finish off the season after OiS.

She plans to leave the ship after all, and in "Trash" we see no hint of that, and she helps out on a job. That doesn't seem to fit. And neither does the way they interact in "the Message" during the port docking/mail getting/freak show attending teaser.

In fact, she's almost trying to find a place in his thieving lifestyle by suggesting where to sell the Lassiter, and it's only through Nandi in "Heart of Gold" that makes her see how attached she's become to him and life on "Serenity" and she views that as a bad thing for all concerned.

Probably cause she knows she's dying (yep, that's where I fall among the theories), and would have to leave them all eventually, and it would be emotional and sad and difficult. I'm of the notion that she joined the crew in the beginning to get out and see as much of the Verse as she could (because she's been in the House and only the House for so long) before passing on, and got in deeper than she intended to.

So that leads her to decide to leave voluntarily, because it would be better, and thus you have "Objects in Space," and the unofficial, intended end of the series.

But that's just my two strawberries.

--Pat

SHINYSEVEN

Wednesday, June 30, 2004 1:39 PM

Some of the episodes are in continuity, some aren't--i.e., Trash has to be after Our Mrs. Reynolds , and they have to steal The Lassiter before Inara can try to fence it; Simon can't decide *not* to take vengeance against Jayne until Ariel-plus-enough-time-to-figure-it-out (and it would be sort of cute if The Message were after Ariel because then Tracy would be on Ariel at about the same time as they were). War Stories has to be after The Train Job, and indeed long enough after for Niska to have worked up a head of steam.

RHUTTNER

Wednesday, June 30, 2004 2:10 PM

Quote:

And this is just my opinion here, but it wouldn't make sense story-wise and character wise for Inara, to have "Trash" and then "The Message" finish off the season after OiS.

The main problem and the root of the order controversy is that in The Message Jayne refers to River as a "mind-readin' genius", yet in OiS the subject of her being able to read minds is first brought up, and Jayne was skeptical about it. So it doesn't make sense that he would come up with that idea on his own, then doubt it when its openly discussed.

When you take that into consideration, and since The Message must follow Trash, factor in Trash and The Message being filmed after OiS aired, and a pinch of Inara's hair you get a recipe for why some people think that the production order is the 'correct' order.

We don't know how Joss would have resolved Inara leaving in episode 16 had Fox given a green light for the back 7. The fact that there is no mention of her leaving in Trash and The Message doesn't mean they MUST come before HoG and OiS. Episode 16 could have opened with Mal saying that she said she was leaving 2 months ago and tells her to make up her mind already, she does, tells the crew, and leaves.

But since there is no 16, and from what we know of the movie's story OiS is a good way to end it. So the DVD order is fine.

Are you an official Browncoat? If not, go sign up gorram it! http://browncoats.serenitymovie.com/serenity/?u=rhuttner

RIVERSBOUNTY

Wednesday, June 30, 2004 2:35 PM

Fair enough. :-) But I offer, given Jayne's reactions to River in "Ariel" (especially where I always believed after they were captured that Jayne knew that she knew he had betrayed her) and again in "Trash" when he was temporarily paralyzed, he kind of figured something was up with her and said so off-handedly in "The Message," but not seriously meaning it.

Then in OiS, he's doubtful because he doesn't WANT to believe it. Jayne's not the smartest, but he does have his moments.

And I still hold that Inara's actions in "Trash" and "The Message" aren't the actions of someone who's conflicted and looking to leave the ship. But since Joss ain't here, either arguement could be correct, so I shrug and say, "Yay for us."

--Pat

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