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"Firefly" (2002) More at IMDbPro »

The series takes place on Serenity, the spaceship of Captain Malcolm Reynolds. Serenity is a Firefly class transport ship, with a glowing backside that makes it resemble the insect that it shares a name with. Creator Joss Whedon was looking for a name and liked the combination of "fire" and "fly," as well as the smallness and insignificance that the name implied, given that his characters live on the fringes of society.

Serenity is a film based on Firefly that picks up where the series left off. The entire cast of the television show returns in the film, which was designed to appeal to fans of the series as well as newcomers.

The characters will occasionally break into Mandarin Chinese, particularly when they are cursing. In terms of practicality, it provided the show's writers with a way around network censors. The choice of Chinese is significant in that the dominant governing body, the Alliance, was formed between China and the United States - the last remaining superpowers from Earth-That-Was.

The episodes are arranged in their intended order on the DVD box set of the series. That order is as follows: "Serenity," "The Train Job," "Bushwhacked," "Shindig," "Safe," "Our Mrs. Reynolds," "Jaynestown," "Out of Gas," "Ariel," "War Stories," "Trash," "The Message," "Heart of Gold," "Objects in Space."

The Fox network aired the episodes in this order: "The Train Job," "Bushwhacked," "Our Mrs. Reynolds," "Jaynestown," "Out of Gas," "Shindig," "Safe," "Ariel," "War Stories," "Objects in Space," "Serenity."

"Trash," "Heart of Gold," and "The Message" were unaired in the United States until Firefly began running on the Sci-Fi Channel in July 2005.

The term "Browncoat" was used in the episode "The Train Job" to refer to soldiers of the resistance who fought against the Alliance and lost. Devoted fans of Firefly adopted the moniker, seeing a parallel between the Browncoats' loss against the Alliance and their own defeat when Fox cancelled the series. The term Browncoat generally refers to fans who actively recruit new fans of the show and otherwise take action to create publicity for the series.

The term "flan" comes from an interview with Firefly star Nathan Fillion at the premiere of the film In Good Company. Meaning to say "Firefly fans," Fillion slipped and said "flans" and good-naturedly mocked his own mistake with the exhortation "Keep being a good flan!" "Flan" became an in-joke amid series fans and eventually gave rise to the name "Flanvention," given to a large Firefly convention in the United States. Fans of Nathan Fillion often identify themselves as flans.

Blue Sun is the name of a nefarious corporation whose involvement with the Alliance and River is mostly just hinted at within the series. It has been observed that River attacks Jayne when he is wearing a Blue Sun T-shirt, and she hysterically peeled the labels off of cans with the Blue Sun label. It is generally understood that Blue Sun would have figured strongly in the future of the series if it had not been cancelled. In the comic book "Those Left Behind," with events taking place in between the series Firefly and the film Serenity the men with blue gloves are revealed to be employed by Blue Sun. When River escapes them, the Alliance brings in The Operative instead. Whedon has said that The Operative is a better big screen villain than the gloved men would have been.

The Verse is the star cluster that was settled by the human folk who left Earth-That-Was and founded the Alliance. Using material compiled by Josh Awtry, The Verse appears to consist principally of a trinary star system, with two other stars orbiting a central one. The Core and Border Worlds orbit the central "White Sun." The second, "Red Sun," which orbits the central sun in an 80-year orbit, and its planets comprise the Rim and the Frontier. The third "Blue Sun" orbits the central sun in a 730-year orbit and has no planets listed (although it may at some point be revealed to have its own planetary system). Malcolm Reynolds states (in "Our Mrs. Reynolds") that there are over seventy "little earths" spinning about, all told. According to Awtry, there are "215 terraformed worlds and moons, seven gas giants, seven protostars and five distinct star systems that comprise the star cluster known as The Verse."

The Ballad of Jayne Cobb

Composed by Ben Edlund

Jayne. The man they call Jayne...

* He robbed from the rich and he gave to the poor. / Stood up to The Man and gave him what for. / Our love for him now ain't hard to explain. / The hero of Canton, the man they call Jayne!

Our Jayne saw the Mudders' backs breakin'. / He saw the Mudders' lament. / And he saw the Magistrate takin' / every dollar and leavin' five cents./ So he said "You can't do that to my people." / He said "You can't crush them under your heel." / So Jayne strapped on his hat and in five seconds flat / stole everythin' Boss Higgins had to steal.

Repeat *

Now here is what separates heroes / from common folk like you and I. / The man they call Jayne, he turned round his plane / and he let that money hit sky./ He dropped it onto our houses; / he dropped it into our yards./ The man they called Jayne, he stole away our pain / and headed out for the stars!

Here we go!

Repeat *

It's never quite clear, but he appears to have some sort of sufficient status within the Alliance, and possibly worked for them in the past. It has been speculated that he might once have been an operative akin to the one appearing in the sequel film Serenity, as he seems to possess an instinctive understanding of the other man's motives. Joss Whedon has stated that he declined to reveal Book's past in the film so as to maintain the ambiguity, and also because he could think of no rational reason why Book would suddenly reveal intimate details of a past he obviously didn't wish to discuss.