Best Firefly Episodes to See Before Serenity?

October 3, 2005 9:07 AM

What 3 or 4 Firefly episodes would be considered required viewing to get the most out of Serenity?

My wife and I have gotten pulled into the Serenity/Firefly excitement, and we're looking forward to seeing the movie. In order to avoid being lost on backstory and character development, what 3 or 4 Firefly episodes would be considered required viewing to get the most out of Serenity?

We've seen (and really enjoyed) the pilot, and we'll probably go back and see them all eventually, but we only have time for a few more episodes before we see the movie next weekend. So, what should we see and in what order?

posted by pjhagop to media & arts (18 comments total)

Some friends did this for the wife and I last weekend. From memory, they picked:

Pilot
Our Mrs. Reynolds
Jaynestown
Out of Gas
Ariel
War Stories
Objects in Space

To get the most out of the movie, you should prolly make sure you see Out Of Gas (a lot of "where did they come from" flashbacks), Ariel (Bunch of River-plot), and Objects in Space (ditto, plus it's the end of the series). The others were picked because of their quality (Warning, Jaynestown will get a song stuck in your head).
posted by robocop is bleeding at 9:17 AM on October 3, 2005

Serenity (the pilot, 2 hrs)
Out of Gas
Objects in Space

That'll probably give you enough backstory and "what's up with River" info to fill you in.
posted by mkultra at 9:21 AM on October 3, 2005

If I watch the pilot and don't like it, does that mean I won't like the movie?
posted by agropyron at 9:24 AM on October 3, 2005

The three that mkultra lists are three of the four I showed at a party last week. But since you already saw the pilot, I'd definitely add War Stories and maybe Our Mrs. Reynolds.
Also the movie tries to fill newcomers in on the backstory -- I don't know how successful it is, though, as I was not a newcomer.

agropyron: no, it doesn't, I don't think; the pilot is a bit hard to follow and the production value is much lower than the rest of the series. I didn't get the pilot at all until I'd seen a few more episodes and then gone back to watch it. If you want to give it another shot, the episode Out of Gas kind of functions as a pilot in terms of character introduction stuff.
posted by librarina at 9:30 AM on October 3, 2005

Ya know my wife and sister both practically begged me to watch the show, but for some reason I never wanted to. I liked Buffy and Angel, but just didn't feel like gettin' into a new show.

So, they were both very excited about the movie. I decided to go with my wife the day it opened. I thought it was very good. Whedon does an excellent job at cleverly subverting cliches and even provided a very tight plot. I still haven't seen the show - I guess I will some time.

I would say, though, that I prefer movies that don't hit me over the head with the backstory and plot. I would rather the story itself is interesting and well-structured, which often rules out explanatory material. I don't think the movie needed it at all, even though my wife and sister both asked if things didn't make sense. Everything made the sense that the story needed it to make.
posted by Slothrop at 9:32 AM on October 3, 2005

None are required for enjoying Serenity, though since it picks up after Objects in Space you could whet your appetite by re-watching the 2-part pilot (Serenity) followed by OiS.

Fox already proved that the series is most involving when viewed in correct order and without gaps. If you can, watch the entire series in correct (DVD) order, whether before or after the movie. You'll be glad you did it that way.

If I watch the pilot and don't like it, does that mean I won't like the movie?

Depends on what you didn't like. The movie is more action oriented, darker, and (slightly) more violent. It focuses on the mystery of the Alliance's pursuit of River.
posted by nakedcodemonkey at 9:34 AM on October 3, 2005

What nakedcodemonkey said...

The movie actually does a nice job of summarizing enough backstory to make it watchable and enjoyable (of course, that's only my opinion since I already had the backstory...)

To flip this over, though -- if you're going to get interested enough to watch the series DVD set, I'd suggest watching as much of it as you can in the correct order prior to seeing the movie. Not so much to improve the movie experience, but to keep the movie from ruining the fun of watching the series.

There are events that unfold through the series that are paid off in the movie, and I think they'd be more fun to discover step by step than after you already know the outcome.
posted by nonliteral at 9:46 AM on October 3, 2005

I tried to watch the pilot three times and never finished it. Finally, I just moved on to the next episode and fell in love. So, I think for some, the pilot turns folks off. agropyron, I'd try the next one in the series.
posted by Bear at 10:06 AM on October 3, 2005

If you're planning on watching four of them, it's not that much longer to watch all of them. Every single one is great (some are better than others of course) and each one has some interesting character development in it. My husband and I watched the entire series over the course of a week before we saw the movie and it worked out beautifully.
posted by Kimberly at 10:42 AM on October 3, 2005

I also thought that the later episodes were better than the pilot, but I recommend watching the pilot in order to get some key plot points.
posted by mbrubeck at 12:06 PM on October 3, 2005

If I watch the pilot and don't like it, does that mean I won't like the movie?

Not necessarily. A friend of mine turned me on to Firefly, and she was all "Here's what was supposed to be the pilot, but Fox didn't air it first!" and then I proceeded to completely not be interested and fall asleep. Then she tells me, "Wake up, here's the first episode they aired." And then I started to love the series.
posted by 23skidoo at 12:17 PM on October 3, 2005

If I watch the pilot and don't like it, does that mean I won't like the movie?

Most likely not. In my opinion, as others have said, it gets better as it goes along (rewatching the series in anticipation of Serenity, I was wondering if it was really as good as I'd thought during the first few episodes...then it really gets going). Somewhere around Our Mrs. Reynolds is where it picks up, and the movie most definitely is of the "good Firefly episode" stock. I'd agree that Out of Gas, Ariel and Objects in Space are probably your best bet for getting enough backstory to really enjoy Serenity (although the film does explain enough that you won't be lost even if you watch none of the series, but you'll definitely get more out of it if you've watched some). If you have time, definitely watch War Stories, it's one of my favourite episodes, and also watch Jaynestown, because it's completely entertaining.
posted by biscotti at 12:21 PM on October 3, 2005

Out of Gas (the quickest introduction to the characters, more so than the pilot), followed by Ariel (the episode with the most about River, who features big in the movie), followed by Objects in Space (to show you where the series left off).

Of course, if you like what you see you probably won't want to stop after three episodes. Skip the commentary on Objects in Space -- Whedon going on about Sartre is excruciating.
posted by amery at 12:50 PM on October 3, 2005

I'd say Out of Gas, Ariel, War Stories, and Objects in Space. War Stories mainly because a) it's a most excellent episode, and b) certain events in it are prominently discussed by the characters in Objects in Space.

(disclaimer: I have not yet seen Serenity.)
posted by neckro23 at 12:58 PM on October 3, 2005

Whedon going on about Sartre is excruciating.

I really enjoyed that commentary, personally.
posted by phearlez at 1:46 PM on October 3, 2005

Actually, some of the back story in the movie didn't seem to match the series (I'm talking about how Simon gets River), so I'd say it doesn't really matter. You may care about some of the characters a bit more if you have more history with them, but for back story, I'd say it's a non-starter.

That said:

• Shindig (for the Mal/Inara undercurrents)
• Safe (for Simon/River and Simon/Kaylee)
• Ariel (for reasons others have said)
• Bushwhacked (for the reavers stuff)

posted by willnot at 6:14 PM on October 3, 2005

(disclaimer: I missed the first ten minutes or so of the movie, and so I don't know how much additional backstory exposition there was.)

I would argue that since you've already seen "Serenity" the episode, you've got pretty much everything you need. Other episodes (except for the already-mentioned "Out of Gas") present a different enough version of the Serenity universe that if you're particularly attuned to it, parts of the movie will bother you. "Objects in Space" in particular is a bit of a problem; I'd argue that episode is a better version of the first third of the movie. Plus, because it's an action-oriented movie, much of the characterization present in episodes like "War Stories" and "Out of Gas" is sadly lacking, to the point where you may get more mileage out of not expecting it in the movie.

Serenity is not Firefly; you may well enjoy it more if you don't bother watching any more episodes before you see the movie.
posted by chrominance at 7:55 PM on October 3, 2005

the pilot is a bit hard to follow and the production value is much lower than the rest of the series.

I'm not done with the series yet so will hold off on recommendations for pjhagop and his wife, but I strongly disagree that the pilot was hard to follow.

It was one of the best two-hour set-ups of a series I've ever seen - clever, involving, suspenseful, with fleshed-out characters obviously still getting to know each other and bursting with backstory hints. It was filled with action *and* had some of the best special effects I've seen in a TV show. The Reavers chase sequence at the end was really stunningly put together; I watched it over and over.
posted by mediareport at 8:33 PM on October 3, 2005