Episode Summaries

FIREFLY:

Five hundred years in the future there’s a whole new frontier, and the crew of Firefly-class spaceship Serenity is eager to stake a claim on the action. They’ll take any job, legal or illegal, to keep fuel in the tanks and food on the table. But things get a bit more complicated after they take on a passenger wanted by the new totalitarian Alliance regime. Now they find themselves on the run, desperate to steer clear of Alliance ships and the flesh-eating Reavers who live on the fringes of space.

Firefly aired in the fall of 2002 by FOX networks. After only fifteen episodes, the series was cancelled in December of 2002. Joss Whedon wouldn’t let it go that easily and later resurrected the show into a motion picture movie entitled Serenity.

CAST
Nathan Fillion as MALCOLM "MAL" REYNOLDS
Gina Torres as ZOE ALLEYNE WASHBURNE
Alan Tudyk as HOBAN "WASH" WASHBURNE
Morena Baccarin as INARA SERRA
Adam Baldwin as JAYNE COBB
Jewel Staite as KAYWINNET LEE "KAYLEE" FRYE
Sean Maher asDOCTOR SIMON TAM
Summer Glau as RIVER TAM
Ron Glass as SHEPARD BOOK

Episodes Summaries:

SERENITY-PART 1 & 2:
Air Date: 12/20/02
Written by Joss Whedon---Directed by Joss Whedon

The crew of Serenity is eager to rid themselves of an easily traceable cargo they salvaged from a vessel adrift in space, totally unaware that a passenger has brought an even more dangerous cargo aboard.

THE TRAIN JOB:
Air Date: 9/20/02
Written by Joss Whedon & Tim Minear---Directed by Joss Whedon

Mal has second thoughts after discovering that two boxes of Alliance goods his crew has been hired to steal are full of badly needed medical supplies headed for the mining town of Paradiso.

BUSHWACKED:
Air Date: 9/27/02
Written by Tim Minear---Directed by Tim Minear

After a booby-trapped spacecraft carrying the lone crewmember of a horrific Reaver attack, Serenity is boarded by an Alliance Commander looking for Simon and River.

SHINDIG:
Air Date: 11/1/02
Written by Jane Espenson---Directed by Vern Gillum

In order to secure a job transporting cargo off-planet for a client,
SAFE:
Air Date: 11/8/02
Written by Drew Z. Greenberg---Directed by Micheal Grossman

When Simon is kidnapped by a group of villagers in need of a doctor, Serenity is forced to make contact with an Alliance ship in order to seek medical help for a critically wounded Book.

OUR MRS. REYNOLDS:
Air Date: 10/4/02
Written by Joss Whedon---Directed by Vondie Curtis Hall

After a celebration in which the crew is honored for ridding a planet of a group of bandits, they return to Serenity to find a woman named Saffron who claims that Mal married her during the festivities.

JAYNESTOWN:
Air Date: 10/18/02
Written by Ben Edlund---Directed by Marita Grabiak

When the crew returns to a planet where Jayne participated in a heist gone bad, they’re shocked to discover that Jayne’s past actions have turned him into a local hero of Robin Hood-like mythic proportions.

OUT OF GAS:
Air Date: 10/25/02
Written by Tim Minear---Directed by David Solomon

After an explosion leaves Serenity crippled, Mal orders everyone to abandon ship while he stays behind in an attempt to make repairs-and reminisces how he found the ship and picked its crew.

ARIEL:
Air Date: 11/15/02
Written by Jose Molina---Directed by Allan Kroeker

Simon offers the crew a proposition: if they help him sneak River into a hospital so he can run tests on her, he’ll tell them where to find medical supplies that will fetch an enormous price on the black market.

WAR STORIES:
Air Date: 12/6/02
Written by Cheryl Cain---Directed by James Contner

Wash regrets insisting he be allowed to accompany Mal on a mission after the two men are captured by Adelai Niska-the client who previously hired Mal to steal the medicine bound for Paradiso.

TRASH:
Air Date: NEVER AIRED
Written by Ben Edlund & Jose Molina---Directed by Vern Gillum

Mal is shocked to discover his old friend’s new bride is Saffron who although furious after Mal blows her cover, offers to cut Mal in on what she calls the perfect, big-time scam.

THE MESSAGE:
Air Date: NEVER AIRED
Written by Joss Whedon & Tim Minear---Directed by Tim Minear

Wile Jayne opens a mail package from him mother that contains a wool cap with ear flaps and a pom-pom, Mal and Zoë open their package to discover the body of their old war buddy, Tracy.

HEART OF GOLD:
Air Date: NEVER AIRED
Written by Bret Matthews---Directed by Thomas J. Wright

The Crew comes to the aid of a bordello when its madam, an old acquaintance of Inara’s, asks for help after a gunslinger claims a prostitute’s baby is his and he’s taking it because his wife is barren.

OBJECTS IN SPACE:
Air Date: 12/13/02
Written by Joss Whedon---Directed by Joss Whedon

The crew is caught off-guard when a bounty hunter eager to claim the enormous reward on River’s head sneaks aboard Serenity and methodically begins taking the crew prisoner one by one.