Editing Firefly (TV series) (section)

== Premise ==

=== Backstory ===
The series takes place in the year 2517, on a variety of planets with numerous habitable moons. The TV series does not reveal whether these celestial bodies are within one star system, only saying that ''Serenity''{{'}}s mode of propulsion through space is a "gravity-drive". Each episode begins with either Book or Captain Reynolds providing the backstory. Book's narration runs as follows:<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.themarysue.com/firefly-recap-episode-2/ |title=Late to the Party Recap: Firefly Episode Two "The Train Job" |last=Tickle |first=Glen |date=September 27, 2013 |website=The Mary Sue |access-date=July 2, 2019}}</ref>
{{Cquote|After the Earth was used up, we found a new solar system, and hundreds of new Earths were terraformed and colonized. The central planets formed the Alliance and decided all the planets had to join under their rule. There was some disagreement on that point. After the war, many of the Independents who had fought and lost drifted to the edges of the system, far from Alliance control. Out here, people struggle to get by with the most basic technologies. A ship would bring you work. A gun would help you keep it. A captain's goal was simple: Find a crew. Find a job. Keep flying. | author=Derrial Book, introductory narrative for the show}}

The film ''[[Serenity (2005 film)|Serenity]]'' reveals that the planets and moons are in an extensive system, and production documents related to the film indicate that there is no [[faster-than-light]] travel in this [[fictional universe|universe]]. The characters occasionally refer to "Earth-that-was", and the film establishes that long before the events in the series, a large population had emigrated from [[Earth]] to a new [[star system]] in [[generation ship]]s:<ref>Serenity Blu-ray databanks</ref> "Earth-that-was could no longer sustain our numbers, we were so many." The emigrants established themselves in this new star system, with "dozens of planets and hundreds of moons", and many of these were [[terraforming|terraformed]], a process that was only the first step in making a planet habitable. The outlying settlements often did not receive support in the construction of their civilizations. This resulted in many border planets and moons having forbidding, dry environments, well-suited to the Western genre.

=== Synopsis ===
The show takes its name from the "''Firefly''-class" spaceship ''[[Serenity (Firefly vessel)|Serenity]]'' that the central characters call home. The ''Firefly''-class ships, some 40,000 still in use,<ref>{{Cite episode |title=Bushwhacked |episode-link=Bushwhacked (Firefly) |series=Firefly |first=Tim |last=Minear |author-link=Tim Minear |network=[[Fox Broadcasting Company]] |date=September 27, 2002 |season=1 |number=3 |time=27:50 |quote=''[Commander Harken:]'' Forty thousand of these old wrecks in the air, and that's all they give us.}}</ref> is so named for the resemblance to the shape of a [[firefly]], complete with a tail section that lights up during acceleration, analogous to the [[bioluminescence|bioluminescent]] insect's [[abdomen]]. The ''Serenity'' was named for the Battle of Serenity Valley, where Sergeant Malcolm Reynolds and Corporal Zoe Alleyne were among the survivors on the losing side. It is revealed in "Bushwhacked" that the Independents' loss at the Battle of Serenity Valley was widely considered as sealing their fate.<ref>{{Cite episode |title=Bushwhacked |episode-link=Bushwhacked (Firefly) |series=Firefly |first=Tim |last=Minear |author-link=Tim Minear |network=[[Fox Broadcasting Company]] |date=September 27, 2002 |season=1 |number=3 |time=36:45 |quote=''[Commander Harken:]'' Independents suffered a pretty crushing defeat there. Some say that after Serenity the brown coats were through, that the war ended in that valley.}}</ref>

The Alliance governs the star system through an organization of core planets, following its success in forcibly unifying all the colonies under one government. [[Audio commentary (DVD)|DVD commentary]] suggests that the Alliance is composed of two primary systems, one predominantly [[Western culture|Western]], the other pan-Asian, explaining the blended linguistic and visual themes of the series. The central planets are firmly under Alliance control, but the outlying planets and moons resemble the [[American Old West]], under little governmental authority. Settlers and refugees on the outlying worlds have relative freedom from the central government but lack the amenities of high-tech civilization found on inner worlds. The outlying areas of space ("the black") are inhabited by the [[Reaver (Firefly)|Reavers]], a [[Human cannibalism|cannibalistic]] group of nomadic humans.<ref>The film adaptation explains how the Reavers came to exist in the Firefly universe.</ref>

The captain of ''Serenity'' is [[Malcolm Reynolds|Malcolm "Mal" Reynolds]]. The episode "[[Serenity (Firefly episode)|Serenity]]" establishes that the captain and his first mate [[Zoe Washburne]], née Alleyne are veteran "Browncoats" of the Unification War, a failed attempt by the outlying worlds to resist the Alliance. A later episode, "[[Out of Gas (Firefly)|Out of Gas]]", reveals that Mal bought the spaceship ''Serenity'' to travel increasingly distant reaches of space, beyond Alliance control. Much of the crew's work consists of cargo runs or [[smuggling]]. In the original pilot, "Serenity", [[List of Firefly characters#Simon Tam|Simon]] joins the crew as a paying passenger, smuggling his sister [[River Tam]] aboard as cargo. River is a child prodigy whose brain was subjected to experiments by Alliance scientists at a secret government institution; she displays symptoms of schizophrenia and often hears voices. It is later revealed that she is a "reader", one who possesses [[telepathic]] abilities. Simon gave up a career as an eminent trauma surgeon in an Alliance hospital to rescue her, and they are fugitives. As Whedon states in an episode of a DVD commentary, every show he does is about creating a family.<ref name="pilotcommentary" /> By the last episode, "[[Objects in Space]]", the fractured character of River has finally become whole, partly because the others decided to accept her into their "family" on the ship.<ref name="pilotcommentary" />

=== Signature show elements ===
The show blends elements from the [[space opera]] and Western genres in a grounded depiction of humanity's future. ''Firefly'' takes place in a multi-social future, primarily a fusion of Western and [[Culture of Asia#East Asia|East Asian societies]] (and in particular those of [[mainland China]]), where there is gross class inequality. As a result of the [[Alliance (Firefly)|Sino-American Alliance]], [[Mandarin Chinese]] is a common second language; English-speaking characters in the show frequently curse in Mandarin.

The show features slang not used in contemporary culture, such as adaptations of modern words or new words. "Shiny" is frequently used as the real world slang "cool", and "gorram" is used as a mild swear word. Written and spoken Chinese, as well as Old West dialect, are also employed. As one reviewer noted: "The dialogue tended to be a bizarre [[purée]] of wisecracks, old-timey Western-paperback patois, and snatches of Chinese."<ref name="weeklystandard" />

Tim Minear and Joss Whedon pointed out two scenes that articulated the show's mood clearly:<ref name="pilotcommentary" /> In the original pilot "Serenity" when Mal is eating with chopsticks with a Western tin cup by his plate; and in "The Train Job" pilot when Mal is thrown out of a [[Volumetric display|holographic]] bar window.<ref name="ttjc1" /> The DVD set's "making-of" documentary explains the distinctive [[Book frontispiece|frontispiece]] of the series (wherein ''Serenity'' soars over a herd of horses) as Whedon's attempt to capture "everything you need to understand about the series in five seconds."

Whedon struggled with Fox over the tone of the show, and especially over the character of Malcolm Reynolds. Fox pressured Whedon to make Mal more "jolly", as they feared he was too dark in the original pilot, epitomized by the moment he suggests he might "space" Simon and River, throwing them out of the airlock. Fox was unhappy that the show portrayed "nobodies" who "get squished by policy" instead of actual policymakers.<ref name="pilotcommentary" /><ref name="ttjc7" />