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| The Message |
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Below are reviews written by members
of FIREFLYFANS.NET.
If you would like to submit your own review for this episode, you
can click on
SUBMIT REVIEW. Note: click on the quotes to read the full review. |
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RATING: 10.00 READ: 9723 COMMENTS: 4980
'One of my favorite episodes!'
- JavidRho | RATING: 9.00 READ: 10862 COMMENTS: 907
'Direction and vision for this, as all Firefly episodes is just so much more thought-out than the usual material on TV.'
- sagrilarus | RATING: 8.00 READ: 10126 COMMENTS: 1222
'General impressions of seeing Firefly again after so long an absence...'
- QueenTiye | RATING: 10.00 READ: 9870 COMMENTS: 2080
'Like “Ariel” and “Objects in Space”, “The Message” is a thriller more than anything else. '
- GThing | RATING: 10.00 READ: 15592 COMMENTS: 404
'Amazing episode with the best ending.'
- Trilly | RATING: 10.00 READ: 4949 COMMENTS: 5569
'Wonderfull and captavating.'
- KayleesSerenity | RATING: 10.00 READ: 21383 COMMENTS: 1133
'Wonderfull and captavating.'
- KayleesSerenity | RATING: 10.00 READ: 15477 COMMENTS: 610
'The best episode of Firefly yet. Its nothing short of a perfect 10. Hats off to Joss Whedon on this one.'
- KayleesSerenity | RATING: 10.00 READ: 28442 COMMENTS: 1663
'The episode never lets go of your attention!'
- TheCrazyIvan | RATING: 10.00 READ: 21241 COMMENTS: 9008
'I have watched this one 5 times and I always cry, these guys are terrific. Very emotional...tks'
- maieuti | RATING: 10.00 READ: 15317 COMMENTS: 3643
'Humor, excitment, mystery, and sadness, these describe most of the events in this episode'
- TheMessage1117 | RATING: 10.00 READ: 16511 COMMENTS: 1222
'This episode had heart and soul. Basically it had it all.'
- Gotcha14 | RATING: 4.00 READ: 9221 COMMENTS: 10625
'This is not a good episode. Once analysed, it falls apart pretty quickly & appears contrived.'
- Routier | RATING: 10.00 READ: 25611 COMMENTS: 1714
'You have to love this episode just for the hat that Jayne wears.'
- abbeyscheuerman | RATING: 9.00 READ: 4351 COMMENTS: 6528
'This ep is awesome, they really gave it their all.'
- LittleKaylee | RATING: 7.00 READ: 18770 COMMENTS: 1121
'Quite a soulful episode, but much was lost on me because of the silliness.'
- kpo | RATING: 10.00 READ: 18362 COMMENTS: 832
'Didn't like it at first, but after watching it a few times, it grew on me.'
- IsaacShepherd | RATING: 7.00 READ: 18988 COMMENTS: 3299
'Interesting premise and the young soldier offers insight into what "might have been" if Mal and Zoe hadn't had more strength of character, or more important, Serenity and the crew after the war. Still - some aspects of the story just didn't make sense to me. '
- Trinculo | RATING: 10.00 READ: 15754 COMMENTS: 1953
'The true end to Firefly the series'
- derangedmilk | RATING: 10.00 READ: 21032 COMMENTS: 283
'No Description'
- imin | RATING: 7.00 READ: 15576 COMMENTS: 309
'TRACEYS TATTOO IS GODSMACK!!!'
- godsmackseetherplacebo | RATING: 6.00 READ: 9702 COMMENTS: 418
'Almost bought it.'
- audacitymedia | |
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Below are point of analysis for the
episode. These analysis should be objective and based on facts
within this episode or other episodes of the series. |
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Below are unanswered questions from
the episode. |
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I realize that things are a bit fast and loose in the Old West, but wouldn't Womack have to account for the several million dollars worth of ordinance that he dropped on Serenity?
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It looked like Zoe's aim was pretty true, as we would expect, so how did Tracey keep moving so long with that hole in his chest? That was the only thing that bothered me.
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*In the war flashback sequence, referring to the lieutenant that Tracey said was out of his head...when Mal says' " He's **keets**"......what does Mal actually say, I mean is it something in Chinese? or an acronym or what ?
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Why does it show that an autopsy is done with a scalpel?
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How was Tracey supposed to get his innards back, once he'd delivered the new ones?
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What happened to Wash's "two days" estimate at the beginning of the episode? Doesn't Serenity seem to get to St Albans pretty quick?
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Below are speculations about events or
items in the episode. These speculations are subjective. |
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Should Serenity ever travel through the sector where Womack serves, Womack might get word of it and have some vengeance.
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I think this involement with the law has created an opening for the larger force behind 22222 will come looking more aggressively. We have'nt seen the last of 33333, he's an action actor and his character will want to save his reputation from the spread of legend of the back-down. Men with aromor and weapons plus power like that just don't leave. But beautiful ending for my dreams. Tks as awlalys...
Actually that was to prove that as long as the first and last letter are right and the letters are all there, the middle doesn't matter...people get it...
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The most likely reason for Tracey going on so long after getting shot in the chest would be those supercharged organs he was carrying. (Although one might argue that he should've went down faster due to the insane rate his heart would've pumped blood out:wink:)
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(Um.... this was meant to have paragraphs, but I can't make them work.) Okay, nitpicky rambling about the time problems in this episode coming up. It seems to me that Serenity gets to St Albans pretty quickly from that space station. So let's see if it's possible to find two days in this rather tight and dramatic episode.
I have no idea what time of day that first scene on the space station happens. I could guess it's evening, seeing as Simon is taking Kaylee on a "date", but let's be charitable and say it's a funfair-type event and Simon is taking Kaylee out in mid-morning. A few minutes later, after Tracey's message is played, Wash tells us that St Albans "ain't but a two day ride".
Seemingly only minutes after they leave the space station, Womack comes to the postal guy and threatens him. Now we have pursuit.
It feels like late evening to me when Womack first fires on the ship. It doesn't really sit right with me that Womack took twelve hours or so to track down and get within firing range of Serenity, but again, let's be charitable. Twelve hours at the outside have passed since Wash told us we'd be at St Albans in two days or so.
Then we have the box-searching and autopsy scenes, which must take place immediately after the crew's first encounter with Womack or it makes no sense. After that, there's an undefined space of time between Tracey waking up and his explanation of what's happened to the crew. It's barely possible, I guess, that it takes Tracey most of the night to get dressed, be checked over to Simon's satisfaction, get his head together, and finally be ready to sit down and talk (but would you allow him to take long with torpedo-happy Feds on your tail? And do Wash and Book really talk to Womack *all night*?).
Once again, the conversation is interrupted by Womack, who's got bored of talking to Wash - if he's been subjected to eight hours or more of shadow puppets, I'm not surprised! Everybody rushes up to the bridge. Mal has a hurried conversation with Womack and starts planning with Wash how to evade the Feds. How far are we from St Albans now? "Five minutes from atmo"!
So, assuming that Womack doesn't find Serenity all day and then is put off all night, Wash gets Serenity over two days' worth of distance in something less than 24 hours. I guess he really is the best!
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I don't think the planet that Wash landed them on was St Alban's. I think it was a planet on the way. Remember when Tracey dies, he asked them again to take him a little further. I think they then traveled another day or so in the time before they cut to the final scene where they deliver the body. Just my theory on the situation.
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Below are notes about events or
items in the episode. |
Simon worked at a hospital in Osiris.
The Battle of Du-Khang occurred 7 years prior to the events of "The Message".
There are space stations where people can get their mail. Obviously in a setting such as in Firefly, such places are helpful for merchants or cargo ships crew.
The Alliance also has a police force that seem to be armed with a variety of weapons. The police seem to have designations of jurisdictions by sectors.
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Kaylee states that Serenity has "Gravity Drive", which is apparently something different than the rear ("Hard burn") reaction drive engines or the variable pitch drives on the outboards. This is the closest the series comes to discussing the mechanics of interstellar travel.
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From the context, the "gravity drive" is what provides the ship's artificial gravity. I believe what she says is that the conflict between the gravity drive and the real gravity is the reason they're being tossed about as the ship maneuvers.
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Kaylee and Simon hold hands in this ep and this ep was where they were supposed to kiss for the first time.
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Jonathan M. Woodard is one of Joss Whedon "hat tricks". Which means he was one all three of Joss Whedon's shows. He played a vampire named Holden Webster in the episode "Conversations With Dead People" and Knox, Fred's assistant, in many episodes of Angel.
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When Tracy holds Kaylee hostage and is running to the cargo bay of Serenity, he yells "Gorramit Mal!" the DVD subtitles read this as
"You're a rabbit Mal!"
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When Tracey is brandishing the gun on the bridge, there is a hand in one of the frames. In the commentary, Alan Tudyk mentions that the snow chunks outside lying on the windows are styrofoam. A particulary big chunk is sitting behind Mal. My sister pointed out that in one frame, a hand outside comes from off screen and grabs the chunk. Then it cuts to Tracey. When it cuts back, the chunk is gone.
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