73
votes
Accepted
What caused "The Operative" to support Mal's team at the end of the movie?
There are two significant reasons why the Operative chooses to spare the crew in the end. Both are tied up in his self-image as someone who knowingly, reluctantly, does terrible things in search of a ...
- 12.9k
51
votes
Accepted
Do they really watch Firefly on the International Space Station
They can. Firefly and Serenity DVDs are on the ISS
I don't know if they have actually been watched by people living on the ISS, but those photos are legit. The pictured astronaut, Steve Swanson, ...
- 476
39
votes
Accepted
What happened to the Lassiter?
This is addressed in the film's official novelisation. In short, they sold it and used the funds to upgrade the Serenity.
This [The Serenity] was Mal's pride and joy. A while back, they got their ...
- 677k
38
votes
Accepted
Why does Mal change his mind?
It was pretty heavily implied (by Kaylee, IIRC - I don't have the book or the film to reference right now) that Mal has been more angry and moody since Inara left the ship. With both Inara and Book ...
- 15.9k
37
votes
Accepted
Are all of the Reavers and Alliance destroyed in the final battle in Serenity?
No, not all the Alliance forces were destroyed.
From the script:
Behind it, grappling hooks chained to a huge tractor pull the wall away as through the smoke come some fifteen Alliance soldiers, ...
- 66.7k
29
votes
Accepted
Chinese in Serenity?
There were at least 11 instances of Chinese pidgin that made it into the theatrical cut of Serenity. I've listed them below for ease of searching, along with what each statement actually means.
Given ...
- 677k
28
votes
Accepted
How does Serenity's main engine work?
According to the (officially sanctioned) Serenity Blueprints Reference Pack, Serenity's main propulsion is provided by an radion accelerator core:
The pack itself does not seem to be available for ...
- 20.4k
25
votes
Accepted
Why did the details of River's rescue change for the movie Serenity?
Here's the relevant excerpt from the script of the TV show pilot, for reference:
ZOE: How did you do it?
SIMON: Money. And, and luck. For two years, I couldn't get near her. Then I was contacted by ...
- 6,578
22
votes
Accepted
What does "bunch of reubens" mean?
Whedon has lifted this line directly from the show-song Forty-five Minutes from Broadway. In context it means yokel or country-folk and the word survives into the present as "rube".
Mal ...
- 677k
20
votes
What caused "The Operative" to support Mal's team at the end of the movie?
The operative states that he's willing to commit atrocities for the greater good, to help form perfect worlds free from 'sin', a concept he brings up multiple times.
Finding out that River Tam knows a ...
- 81.8k
19
votes
Accepted
What does "had an out" refer to?
Per Google Oxford Languages
"Out"
Noun
INFORMAL
a way of escaping from a problem or dilemma.
"he was desperately looking for an out"
- 10.8k
18
votes
Accepted
What does "Repeater" mean?
A "repeater" is a term for a repeating firearm.
A repeating firearm or repeater is any firearm (either a handgun or long gun) that is capable of being fired repeatedly before having to ...
- 216k
15
votes
Why does Mal change his mind?
I don't see how he changes his mind.
He comes back for Simon because:
Simon is very useful
Simon is reliable, since he also needs the cap'n in order to keep River and himself safe from the Alliance....
- 20.4k
13
votes
How do the ships in Firefly travel immense distances?
Bharat B's answer covers the essentials well (though for the 5.5g acceleration figure, I think it would be better not to cite the wiki page but rather the source it got this info from, which is ...
- 56.5k
13
votes
Accepted
What does "30 coin" mean?
Mr Universe is betraying the crew by luring them to their deaths. Apparently in return for money ("coin")
The operative removed the sword from his briefcase even as Mr. Universe turned his ...
- 677k
11
votes
Why does Mal change his mind?
An out-of-universe answer, which I realize isn’t necessarily the goal here, but I feel that getting meta is the only way to make that scene from Serenity make sense.
I always treated the plot of ...
- 2,386
11
votes
Accepted
What does "innocked" mean?
It's a corruption of "inoculated" (against various diseases commonly found on the moon Lilac, presumably).
Seen later in the screenplay;
Mal: Honestly, doctor, I think we may really crash ...
- 677k
10
votes
How many crew members of the Serenity actually read Chinese?
As mentioned in the featurette, a lot of the cast (Adam, Alan, Jewel) had trouble speaking Chinese so I doubt they'd be able to read it fluently (without sounding out the characters but that's just my ...
- 1,201
10
votes
Accepted
What is "fluffy" in Serenity?
Mal seems to be misquoting Shakespeare (in this case Henry V, Act 1, Scene 2)
And God forbid, my dear and faithful lord, that you should invent,
twist, or distort your interpretation
The next ...
- 677k
9
votes
Why is Shepherd Book crushing a snake on the cover of Serenity: The Shepherd's Tale?
Jesus or Mary crushing a snake with his/her foot is a fairly common theme in religious illustration in Western art. The snake generally represents evil, Satan, or people who talk at the theater.
I ...
- 13.3k
9
votes
Are all of the Reavers and Alliance destroyed in the final battle in Serenity?
That entire armada may have been destroyed but there could have been several smaller fleets on raiding runs etc, so we can not be sure that every Reaver ship, in the 'verse, was present when Mal fired ...
- 1,485
9
votes
Accepted
What exactly is Jayne doing here?
Per the original script, Jayne's assigned duty in the event of a crash seems to be to ensure that other crew members are strapped in properly. Each time he says 'check', he's performed a check.
INT. ...
- 677k
8
votes
Accepted
What was the body count in River's bar fight scene?
I've just re-watched the scene. She hits or kicks 29 times, each time landing a blow sufficient to drop the person she just hit. It isn't possible to count the number of individuals she killed as ...
- 677k
8
votes
What does "Repeater" mean?
The son is referring to the sound of Jayne's automatic weapon being fired.
Jayne fired thirteen rounds of ammunition into the tunnel that Captain Reynolds had just opened. The woman and her son heard ...
- 677k
8
votes
Accepted
What "wrong crowd" is he referring to?
Wash is simply asking if his comrades are dead set on the idea of resolving their problems with gunplay, or whether they're open to a more benign idea, in this case going to see their friend Mr ...
- 677k
6
votes
Accepted
Burning skeletons during launch of the spaceship Serenity
The actual answer is that it is entirely possible/likely that what is depicted in Serenity in that scene is what would happen in real life.
As Valorum mentioned in his comment, there is information ...
- 6,995
5
votes
Accepted
Is there any canonical AI in the 'Verse?
There are no 'strong' AIs within the Firefly Universe, but a clever autopilot would be entirely consistent within the constraints of the RPG. They're explicitly called out as a ship attribute in the (...
- 677k
5
votes
Do Reavers have a multi-generational society?
Neither the television show nor the official comic books contain content to confirm that Reavers have any social structure or level of society beyond the level of a pack animal, and the only reference ...
- 1,338
5
votes
Accepted
What does "it" in "with it" refer to?
The object here is the Reavers. Since Zoe's objective is to prevent her crew being swarmed, and with ammo being mighty scare, she's telling Jayne to intentionally allow some of the Reavers to get ...
- 677k
4
votes
Is there any canonical AI in the 'Verse?
In the comics, which are written by Whedon are considered canon to the show, there are very definitely and explicitly highly advanced AI.
The Blue Sun corporation build a range of androids modeled on ...
- 1,338
Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible