"Firefly" The Message (2003)

User Rating:

8.6/10   

Director:

Tim Minear

Writers:

Joss Whedon (creator)
Joss Whedon (written by) ...

TV Series:

"Firefly" (2002)

Original Air Date:

28 July 2003 (Season 1, Episode 14)

Genre:

Drama | Sci-Fi

Plot:

A pleasant day out at a space station turns sour when Mal and Zoe receive the dead body of one of their old army buddy's in the post office...

Plot Keywords:

Old Friend | Death | Heroine | Back From The Dead | War Veteran

Cast

Nathan Fillion	...	Captain Malcolm 'Mal' Reynolds
Gina Torres	...	Zoë Washburne
Alan Tudyk	...	Hoban 'Wash' Washburne
Morena Baccarin	...	Inara Serra
Adam Baldwin	...	Jayne Cobb
Jewel Staite	...	Kaylee Frye
Sean Maher	...	Dr. Simon Tam
Summer Glau	...	River Tam
Ron Glass	...	Shepherd Book
Jonathan M. Woodward	...	Tracey
Richard Burgi	...	Lieutenant Womack
Al Pugliese	...	Amnon Duul
Tod Nakamura	...	Fendris
Craig Vincent	...	Skunk
Morgan Rusler	...	Barker

Runtime:

44 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | Mandarin

Color:

Color

Certification:

Australia:M

Company:

Mutant Enemy

Trivia:

Although it is not the last episode aired, this was the last episode ever shot.

Goofs:

Continuity: When all of the crew are around the Coffin, listening to the recording, Jayne removes the hat his mother made. The camera cuts back to the crew and Jayne still has his hat on.

Quotes:

River Tam: My food is problematic.
Jayne Cobb: Girl's a mind-readin' genius, can't even figure out how to eat an ice-planet.

Not a good episode

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

As much as I like Firefly, this episode is not good. It's full of embarrassing continuity errors (Jayne's cursed clean/dirty/clean and off/on/off hat, the upside-down cow that isn't), mischaracterizations (a panicking Wash), and sloppy, repetitive writing. Just how many times do we need to hear that lame "if you can't run..." fortune cookie? It feels fake, and everyone's acting (except for the old pro Adam Baldwin) feels forced. Beside, just how many old buddies do Mal and Zoë have? Doesn't look like too many made it if you watch the first scene of the pilot. No, no one had seen it at that point, but Minear and Whedon should have remembered.

The show was canceled during the filming of this and it looks, unfortunately, like they gave up. But if they had just stuck a little harder and turned out a good episode instead of something that really couldn't be aired, might things have gone better? This is the only one I haven't bothered to watch again, despite the few good Jayneisms.