Chronological Order of Episodes. by jewelstaitefan

FIREFLY EPISODE DISCUSSIONS

Chronological Order of Episodes.

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POSTED BY: JEWELSTAITEFAN
UPDATED: Saturday, November 26, 2022 16:47
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Sunday, June 15, 2008 8:26 PM

JEWELSTAITEFAN

There has been some comments recently indicating confusion about the sequence of Episodes.
It has been stated by Joss that the order of Eps on the DVD set is how he currently intends for them to be seen. However, it was not always like that, referring to the last half dozen Eps.

Here is a chronology of the filming and broadcasts of the Eps as occurred during the (sadly) only season, I have not seen it posted before. The Episode number refers to the sequence Joss states, and which are on the DVD set.
Please post corrections if known.

December 2001 - Firefly greenlighted, Fox orders 13 Episodes.
Jan 2002 - preproduction begins.
Feb & Mar - Cast announced.
Mar 12 - Morena hired.

FILMED ----------- DATE ----------- AIRED

First day shooting w/full cast - 20 March.
Pilot Serenity (rejected 3 May)
Train Job script finished - 16 May

-------------------- June-August - Teasers broadcast with Smash Mouth music.

Ep1 The Train Job - 8 July
Ep2 Bushwhacked

Ep3 Shindig - 2 August
Ep4 Safe - 27 August

Ep5 Our Mrs. Reynolds
Ep6 Jaynestown - 11 September
------------------- 20 September - Ep1 The Train Job (4.1)
Ep7 Out of Gas - 22 September
------------------- 27 September - Ep2 Bushwhacked (5.47)

Ep8 Ariel - 3 October
---------------------- 4 October - Ep5 Our Mrs Reynolds (4.87)
--------------------- 11 October: baseball
Ep9 War Stories - 16 October
--------------------- 18 October - Ep6 Jaynestown (4.3)
Fox orders 3 more Eps, total of 16 - 25 October.
--------------------- 25 October - Ep7 Out of Gas (4.38)
Ep12 Heart of Gold - 29-31 October

--------------------- 1 November - Ep3 Shindig (4.28)
--------------------- 8 November - Ep4 Safe (4.68)
Ep13 Objects in Space - 12 November
-------------------- 15 November - Ep8 Ariel (4.49)
Fox approves 2 of new scripts for production, total of 15 eps.
-------------------- 22 November: Rerun of Adam Sandler's "Happy Gilmore"
Ep10 Trash - 27 November
-------------------- 29 November: Brady Bunch in the Whitehouse.

--------------------- 6 December - Ep9 War Stories (3.85)
Ep11 The Message - 10-16 December
Fox Cancels Firefly - 12 December
-------------------- 13 December - Ep13 Objects in Space (4.08)
Final day of filming - 20 December
-------------------- 20 December - Pilot Serenity (4.2)

Never originally aired: Heart of Gold, Trash, Message.
--------------January 10 2003 - Fox series Fastlane moves from Wednesday to fill Friday slot previously held by Firefly.
------------September 19 2003 - DVD set ranks #1 on Amazon.

Emmy Awards for period when Firefly aired recognize Pilot Serenity for Best Special Effects, even tho F*x could not recognize it until after cancelling the series.

As I understand it, after the Pilot, and then the second Pilot (The Train Job), they were approved for Episodes up to Ep8, which was Ariel. Adam has been asked if he thought Jayne would get killed off in Ariel, and he commented they couldn't kill off Jayne because by that time the audience feedback from the airings showed Jayne as the most popular character on the show.
October 11th Firefly was not aired, pre-empted for baseball.
Next the network approved another 3 Episodes, and they kicked off with a return engagement of Michael Fairman in War Stories (9th Episode filmed), then came Heart of Gold (10th Episode filmed), and Objects in Space (11th Episode filmed). The network said they needed to avoid that pesky "western" theme in the shows, and then Joss & Tim delivered Heart of Gold, which they could never get aired. These 3 Eps were in the can, done filming, and they were on to other Eps.
By that time, the network had approved another 3 Episodes, and again they kicked off with a return engagement, this time with Christina Hendricks in Trash (12th Episode filmed), then Message (13th Episode filmed).
During filming of The Message, Cancellation of the series was announced, including the 3rd of the last 3 installments.
On 16 Dec some scenes from heart of Gold and Message were re-filmed, to change the timeline and sequence of events in the story arc.
Thus Joss changed the sequence of WS - Hog - OiS - Trash - Message to become WS - Trash - Message - HoG - OiS.
In The Message, after telling Wash to head for St. Albans, Mal takes Inara aside and mentions how this will affect her destination (leaving the ship). Although filmed after HoG "I'm leaving" re-shot scenes, Message is rearranged to be the Ep before HoG.
HoG was never aired, due to it's highly "western" themed visuals.
In Trash, Inara mentions she has not had a cleint in 3 weeks. In the original sequence, this refers to the preceding 2 Episodes (3 weeks in between) of HoG and OiS. In the rearranged sequence, this indicates there are 3 unaccounted for weeks from Ep9 War Stories to Ep10 Trash.

DVD 1 has
Pilot Serenity
Ep1 The Train Job
Ep2 Bushwhacked

DVD 2 has
Ep3 Shindig
Ep4 Safe
Ep5 Our Mrs Reynolds
Ep6 Jaynestown

DVD 3 has
Ep7 Out of Gas
Ep8 Ariel
Ep9 War Stories
Ep10 trash

DVD 4 has
Ep11 The Message
Ep12 Heart of Gold
Ep13 Objects in Space.

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Tuesday, June 17, 2008 9:26 PM

JEWELSTAITEFAN

I also noticed that Trash, which Tim had mentioned they addressed the Ariel betrayal of Jayne, was the first Episode filmed following the broadcast of Ariel.

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Tuesday, June 17, 2008 10:25 PM

YINYANG

You were busy trying to get yourself lit on fire. It happens.

The chart as you have it confuses me a little, so I'm going to break it up to see if I understand it.

Order Filmed
Serenity (1)
The Train Job (2)
Bushwhacked (3)
Shindig (4)
Safe (5)
Our Mrs. Reynolds (6)
Jaynestown (7)
Out of Gas (8)
Ariel (9)
War Stories (10)
Heart of Gold (13)
Objects in Space (14)
Trash (11)
The Message (12)

Order Aired
The Train Job (2)
Bushwhacked (3)
Our Mrs. Reynolds (6)
Jaynestown (7)
Out of Gas (8)
Shindig (4)
Safe (5)
Ariel (9)
War Stories (10)
Objects in Space (14)
Serenity (1)

That's really interesting. I might watch the episodes in the order they were filmed, to see how that changes things. It won't make a huge difference, though, because it's only the last four that are mixed up. And then, just for kicks, I might watch them in the order they aired, to get a feel for what it might have been like to watch the show in 2002.

You know what's really weird, though? The IMDb listing for Firefly episodes shows that Heart of Gold, Trash, and The Message aired in the summer of 2003. IMDb is wrong sometimes, though, and I was under the impression that those episodes never aired at all.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0303461/episodes

Once a lurker, always a lurker.

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Tuesday, June 17, 2008 11:19 PM

JEWELSTAITEFAN

Your lists seem to be correct.
I was trying to show the interactivity of the airing and filming.

Some references show air dates for the 3 orphans. I usually think these refer to "first broadcast" which may have been on SCiFi or syndication, and on varying caliber of network.
I don't recall when the FF DVDs were released, and that maybe used as "air date" too.
I think it's safe to say they never aired on F*x.

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Thursday, June 19, 2008 8:21 PM

JEWELSTAITEFAN

Also remember that scene 6 of the broadcast version of Objects in Space was removed from the DVD version of OiS, and can be seen on the deleted scenes portion of the special features. That is the scene where Mal and Inara are talking about her leaving, and removed because with the reearranging of Episodes it no longer made sense after the later filmed scene in HoG "I'm leaving". Numerous commentaries have mentioned that HoG scene was the last ever filmed on the original set, after all of The Message was done.

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Sunday, June 29, 2008 11:38 PM

JEWELSTAITEFAN

After successful recovery operations of my DTI copy, added a few things I had planned, to fill out the picture better.

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Monday, June 30, 2008 6:43 AM

WYTCHCROFT

does the filming sequence definitely mean anything though?

i don't know enough about jos's preferred working methods - was buffy always filmed in airing order? i doubt it - but maybe it was.

BSG is filmed in sequence.

Dr Who still is not and never was.

Do you yourself have an order preference?

i think Objects ends the show on a lovely note - but The Message does too -

and HOG pre-figues Those Left Behind - and thus the BDM - very directly.

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Monday, June 30, 2008 8:29 PM

JEWELSTAITEFAN

I prefer the original sequence filmed, unless there was an intentional backtrack. The post-cancellation rearrangement of the last 4 eps does not thrill me, and the Message was the best ending the show could have - just as Pilot Serenity was the best beginning the show could have had (rather than the final Fox broadcast).
Most eps clearly reference past eps. Some shows are not sequenced with episodes, Firefly is, and Joss intended for it to have overarcing storylines, character arcs, not merely episodal story arcs.

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Thursday, March 19, 2009 9:23 PM

JEWELSTAITEFAN

I finally found that the Friday night slot Firefly held was filled by Fastlane, switching from it's previous Wednesday night slot, starting on Jan 10, 2003.

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Wednesday, April 22, 2009 8:27 PM

JEWELSTAITEFAN

Quote:
Originally posted by yinyang:

That's really interesting. I might watch the episodes in the order they were filmed, to see how that changes things. It won't make a huge difference, though, because it's only the last four that are mixed up. And then, just for kicks, I might watch them in the order they aired, to get a feel for what it might have been like to watch the show in 2002.

Once a lurker, always a lurker.

How did that go for you? Remember to watch scene 6 of OiS when watching in filmed order.

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Monday, March 10, 2014 6:37 PM

JEWELSTAITEFAN

bump

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Wednesday, March 19, 2014 7:16 PM

JEWELSTAITEFAN

Hard to see that I kept forgetting to include that Pilot Serenity was awarded Emmy for Special Effects, but stuck that in now.

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Tuesday, July 7, 2015 4:52 PM

JEWELSTAITEFAN

ECG mentions that Gina was married 2 days after Firefly first aired, which would be 22 September. And she took honeymoon during filming of Out of Gas. This all confirms those dates in the chronology.

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Sunday, May 8, 2016 4:07 PM

JEWELSTAITEFAN

Quote:
Originally posted by jewelstaitefan:
Your lists seem to be correct.
I was trying to show the interactivity of the airing and filming.

I don't see that I mentioned this, but I was referring to:
the filming of Ariel, when Jayne is scheduled to be killed off, coming after internet polls show he is the most popular character on the show.
The airing of Train Job, and then the script and filming of War Stories, bringing Niska back.
The airing of OMR, and then the filming weeks later of Trash, bringing back YoSafBrig.

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Thursday, September 15, 2016 7:35 PM

JEWELSTAITEFAN

I don't recall if I noticed this before, but it does not look like I posted this observation:
Shindig and Safe, episodes 3 and 4 following TTJ and BW, were not aired in sequence, but were delayed in their broadcast until after the next 3 episodes were aired.
I realized that it might have been because Shindig was the first to feature a return character, which was Badger. Nobody watching the season unfold knew this, because he had been in Pilot Serenity, which was not aired.
This suggests to me that Joss & co had still hoped to get Serenity Pilot aired, and then they would broadcast Shindig afterwards.
By the time Shindig did air, War Stories was in the pipeline to be filmed, and would be the second episode with returning character (Niska), so the gang must have given up hope that the Pilot would be aired, and let Shindig out.

Kind of poignant.

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Sunday, July 30, 2017 10:52 PM

JEWELSTAITEFAN

This linky might prove useful to this thread:

http://www.myths.com/pub/tv/firefly/script-trash.html

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Monday, September 18, 2017 1:50 AM

JEWELSTAITEFAN

We are a couple days away from the 15th Anniversary of the first broadcast of our BDS.

This OP has the original air dates of the episodes.

Anybody planning on reliving the magic?

I think I plan to start with Pilot Serenity, immediately followed by TTJ to kick off.
Then try to hold off a week for BW.
Likely rearrange episodes to correct order, and insert episodes in place of baseball and such.
The final Pilot I'll likely watch again on 20 Dec, then the remaining episodes a week apart, then BDM again.
But I'm not certain. Filling in the missing weeks, rearranging to correct order, the yearning and confusion wont be the same. The frustration.
Not certain that waiting a week between will work for me.
But watching the deleted scenes right away will be a bonus compared to 2002.

Anyhow, anybody else going to honor the enduring appeal of the show? Having viewing parties? Inviting over a new, younger generation to discover the magic? I really think that much of it will uphold the standard, it's not really dated, except the ADHD component of today's entertainment.

8945

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Monday, September 18, 2017 2:15 AM

JEWELSTAITEFAN

Quote:
Originally posted by wytchcroft:
does the filming sequence definitely mean anything though?

i don't know enough about jos's preferred working methods - was buffy always filmed in airing order? i doubt it - but maybe it was.

BSG is filmed in sequence.

Dr Who still is not and never was.

Do you yourself have an order preference?

i think Objects ends the show on a lovely note - but The Message does too -

and HOG pre-figues Those Left Behind - and thus the BDM - very directly.

Looks like I did not respond adequately to this.
I felt that the order tbat the ideas were conferenced, conceived, hashed out, then scripted, and then, finally, shot on a schedule which allowed for them to be aired on a date, in order, would be the most valid sequence, to embrace the creativity, continuity, story arc which was originally intended by the creators.
Therefore, the script dates and filming dates are the best reference that we have of what was indended for us to see and experience. Not some rearranged gobbledegook which followed cancellation.

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Monday, September 18, 2017 9:43 AM

MOOSE

Quote:
Anyhow, anybody else going to honor the enduring appeal of the show?

I'm going to dig up my old VCR and watch the VHS tapes I made from the original broadcast, commercials and all.
Won't do the true "FOX Experience" and watch baseball or random movies in between episodes, but it will be in broadcast order with the 3 unaireds last.

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Tuesday, September 19, 2017 10:24 PM

JEWELSTAITEFAN

I think I will forego the Pilot, and watch The Train Job tomorrow. Try to duplicate the aired sequence, for a bit.

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Thursday, September 21, 2017 4:36 PM

JEWELSTAITEFAN

Quote:
Originally posted by Moose:
Quote:
Anyhow, anybody else going to honor the enduring appeal of the show?

I'm going to dig up my old VCR and watch the VHS tapes I made from the original broadcast, commercials and all.
Won't do the true "FOX Experience" and watch baseball or random movies in between episodes, but it will be in broadcast order with the 3 unaireds last.

I've never seen those versions, with commercials, upcoming episode trailers, brief intros of the first fee episodes explaining what the missing Pilot would have, etc.
Let us know if you notice anything of interest.

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Thursday, September 21, 2017 7:35 PM

MOOSE

One thing I do miss is the graphic of Serenity that appeared just before the end credits.

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Friday, September 22, 2017 7:23 PM

JEWELSTAITEFAN

Quote:
Originally posted by Moose:

One thing I do miss is the graphic of Serenity that appeared just before the end credits.

Was that when coming back from commercial?
Never seen that

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Friday, September 22, 2017 9:34 PM

MOOSE

It was at the very end of the episode, right before the last set of commercials.
Quick and dirty vid cap. (Yes, I used my phone to record my tv screen)

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Wednesday, September 27, 2017 11:18 PM

JEWELSTAITEFAN

Think I'll stick with OMR next week. Getting a fresh perspective of what it must have been like back then.
Can always watch in correct sequence, and binge them together, another time.

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Thursday, September 28, 2017 11:06 AM

MOOSE

Another thing you may have missed is the "fade to suede", a Joss enforced pause before a commercial break.

Supposedly, if a screen goes to total black the network immediately goes into a commercial, thus disrupting the flow of the story action. Joss came up with this to give the audience a chance to break before getting assaulted with an ad.

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Thursday, September 28, 2017 10:19 PM

JEWELSTAITEFAN

Quote:
Originally posted by Moose:
Another thing you may have missed is the "fade to suede", a Joss enforced pause before a commercial break.

Supposedly, if a screen goes to total black the network immediately goes into a commercial, thus disrupting the flow of the story action. Joss came up with this to give the audience a chance to break before getting assaulted with an ad.

Why not include that in the DVDs? It would seem to work well as a fermata.

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Thursday, September 28, 2017 10:25 PM

ECGORDON

There's no place I can be since I found Serenity.

Yes, I still love Firefly. Just finished my 15th Anniversary marathon, and I'll watch Serenity tomorrow on its 12th Anniversary.

I only made two changes to the viewing order this time. For the last four episodes I went with Trash, Heart of Gold, Objects in Space, The Message. I think the ending of the latter is just as good as with OiS.

wo men ren ran zai fei xing.

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Wednesday, October 11, 2017 11:43 PM

JEWELSTAITEFAN

I saw some baseball on TV tonight, around 7 CT. Not sure if it was Fox.

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Tuesday, October 17, 2017 2:24 PM

JEWELSTAITEFAN

After a week of baseball, who is ready for another episode on October 18th? Something called Jaynestown.

Did the original airings have trailers, promos from the next week's episode?

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Wednesday, October 25, 2017 1:42 PM

JEWELSTAITEFAN

Tonight's episode: Out of Gas.

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Tuesday, October 31, 2017 2:14 PM

JEWELSTAITEFAN

After Out of Gas as the 5th aired episode, I realize a warped impression of Jayne. He has not been seen to care about anything, but the rutting chain of command. He harrasses or jibes Kaylee with "always short a man" in most every episode, without any underlying context.

I would have been ticked to see Pilot Serenity aired at the end of all other aired eps, to find that he did care, and we were not allowed to know.

I'll be likely unable to post for a week, so tomorrow night's episode is Shindig.

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Saturday, November 4, 2017 1:49 AM

JEWELSTAITEFAN

I just realized the episode titles are not part of the episode content.
When viewing now, we can look them up by the Disc index, if we didn't already know them each already.
But how did people know in 2002? Was there still TV Guide back then?
I never knew the titles of the Dark Angel episodes, although I was recording each for viewing.

How did fans know?

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Thursday, November 16, 2017 3:33 AM

JEWELSTAITEFAN

I keep forgetting to watch deleted scenes. Gotta check that.

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Friday, November 17, 2017 2:13 AM

JEWELSTAITEFAN

So, when Ariel was broadcast in 2002, were there trailers for the next episode to be shown? Or are for what would be shown the next week?

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Tuesday, November 21, 2017 2:33 PM

JEWELSTAITEFAN

I am not planning to watch Happy Gilmore this week.
It seems a poor time for hiatus. Story was gearing up in Ariel. And more audience exposure would have been nice. This must have been the Friday before Thanksgiving in 2002.

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Thursday, December 7, 2017 12:04 PM

JEWELSTAITEFAN

With my current work schedule, this is when I would be watching Wed night shows. But I am wiped out right now and must sleep.

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Sunday, April 15, 2018 5:05 PM

JEWELSTAITEFAN

Quote:
Originally posted by ecgordon:
Yes, I still love Firefly. Just finished my 15th Anniversary marathon, and I'll watch Serenity tomorrow on its 12th Anniversary.

I only made two changes to the viewing order this time. For the last four episodes I went with Trash, Heart of Gold, Objects in Space, The Message. I think the ending of the latter is just as good as with OiS.

wo men ren ran zai fei xing.

Changed your viewing order to the original sequence. Interesting.

Hope it was enjoyable.

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Saturday, November 26, 2022 4:47 PM

JEWELSTAITEFAN

Last night I saw that Hunt For Red October was showing last night, at 7 on Charge! network. So I made it home to watch.

At a commercial break, I surfed a tad, and the channel next door was Comet, and they were broadcasting a Firefly Marathon.
Funny thing, I caught the Ariel episode in about the same spot as I did the very first time, 15 years ago in August, when SyFy was doing a marathon.
So I watched until after War Stories, when the order jumped out of sequence. Then I came back for The Message.

Did anybody else watch?

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