At 2:16 on the DVD, one of the village elders gives Jayne a
rain stick.
The fact that Saffron was hiding in the cargo hold and does not
reveal herself until Serenity takes off from the planet and
heads into space would seem to be an early clue that she is not
really a gift from the village.
As Kaylee is comforting poor little Saffron at 7:30 on the DVD after
Mal makes her cry, notice that Jayne's hand also moves in (on
the right edge of the screen) to comfort
her with a caress. Of course, Jayne has ulterior (read lustful) motives towards the
girl.
Reading from Simon's electronic encyclopedia, Shepherd Book reveals
the planet Serenity has just left is called Triumph. The
Complete and Official Map of the Verse, an authorized product
available from
Quantum Mechanix, reveals that Triumph is a moon orbiting a
planet named Heinlein. Most likely, Heinlein is named after the
science-fiction author Robert A. Heinlein (1907-1988).
At 9:22 on the DVD, notice there is a rendition of a winged insect
on the bulkhead, center-right of the screen. Presumably this is
intended to represent the silhouette of a firefly in flight. |
 |
When Mal tells Saffron maybe he can help her find work on the next
planet, she says, "I'll not be anyone's doxy." "Doxy" is an old
English term for prostitute or mistress.
At 14:48 on the DVD, Mal asks Inara, aboard her shuttle, if he may
come in. This is a reference back to both
"Government Goods" and
"The Train Job", where Inara scolded him for always walking in
unannounced.
Jayne has a big effin' gun named Vera, a Callahan full-bore auto
lock. Nice. The prop is built upon a Russian SAIGA auto-shotgun (the
original Russian gun appeared in the 2002 movie Showtime in use by a
cop played by Eddie Murphy).
Possibly the name Vera is a reference
to the always off-screen character of Norm's wife, Vera, in the
1982-1993 sitcom Cheers.
According to the
Firefly and Serenity Wikia, actor Adam Baldwin
appears in the 2007 and 2009 video games Halo 3 and
Halo 3: ODST and his characters are known to refer to their
weapons as Vera.

Mal tells Saffron his homeworld was Shadow.
At 21:02 on the DVD, Mal appears to have some kind of small potted
palm tree in his quarters.
Ironically, during his discussion with Saffron in his quarters,
Mal's Chinese wall-hanging that translates to "marital bliss" (as
pointed out in the study of "Serenity")
is visible behind him for much of the scene.
Regarding marriage, Saffron quotes the Bible as saying, "On the
night of their betrothal, the wife shall open to the man as the
furrow to the plow and he shall work in her; in and again, till she
brings him to his full and rest him then upon the sweat of her
breasts." Can't say as I recall that being in our current day King
James Bible! As Mal says: "Oh. Good Bible." It
could be that the Bible has gone through new translations
or even gained new entries and been published in new versions in the hundreds of years of human history
that has passed in the Firefly universe since our own 21st Century.
Another possibility is that Saffron made up or borrowed the quote
from elsewhere and merely attributes it to the Bible as
part of her act. Since Mal was formerly religious, as seen
during the war in the Battle of Serenity Valley sequence depicted at the
beginning of
"Serenity", it seems like he'd realize it wasn't a
legitimate Bible quote, unless there are many versions of
the book floating around the Verse.
At 26:53 on the DVD, Wash echoes Mal's earlier comment about
Saffron's Bible quote when she tells him the entendre-filled myth of
Earth-That-Was, saying, "Oh. Good myth."
As Inara is making her excuses that she merely fell and hit her head
(hiding the fact that she kissed the unconscious Mal, getting a dose
of the knockout drug Saffron had used on him), notice that Zoe looks
as if she realizes what really happened.
Simon's electronic encyclopedia at 38:06 on the DVD appears to have
subject headings of Medical Science, Universal Encyclopedia,
Anatomical Engineering, Bio-Physical Atlas, Human History, and
Languages.

Unanswered Questions
How was Saffron able to infiltrate the village on Triumph and pose
as one of the village women awaiting a husband? Wouldn't the
villagers know right away she was not one of them and question her
presence at the festivities celebrating their freedom from the
bandits? And, particularly, questioning why she is engaging in their
marriage rights with Captain Reynolds, the man who leads the crew
that just eliminated the bandits for them? One possible explanation
is that there was more than just the one village involved in the
festivities, so an unrecognized young woman might simply be assumed
to be a new face from one of the other villages.
Chinese translations
(Thanks to the
Firefly-Serenity Chinese Pinyinary for the translations) |
Time on
DVD |
Chinese |
English |
7:42 |
Simon says, "Dahng ran." |
"Of course." |
9:06 |
Kaylee says, "Nee boo go guh, nee hwun chiou." |
"You don't deserve her, you fink." |
9:08 |
Mal says, "Gwan nee tzi-jee duh shr." |
"Mind your own business." |
9:27 |
Chinese writing visible on cone-shaped tubing on Serenity. |
Unknown |
13:21 |
Wash says, "bao" |
a type of stuffed bun |
17:03 |
Mal says, "Da-shiang bao-tza shr duh lah doo-tze." |
"The explosive diarrhea of an elephant." |
19:27 |
Some Chinese characters appear to be on the scanning device used by
the space pirates. |
Unknown |
23:07 |
Mal says, "hwun dan" |
"bastard" |
27:20 |
Wash says, "Wuh duh ma huh tah duh fong kwong duh wai shung." |
"Holy mother of god and all her wacky nephews." |
31:16 |
Inara says, "Run-tse duh fwotzoo..." |
"Merciful Buddha..." |
32:28 |
Zoe says "jien huo" |
"cheap floozy" |
33:43 |
Wash says, "Jing tsai." |
"Brilliant." |
36:12 |
Wash says,
"Dung ee hwar..." |
"Hold on a
second..." |
36:24 |
Wash says, "Aiya!" |
"Damn!" |
Notes from Firefly Role-Playing
Game Core Book
Saffron was formerly a Companion.
The "chop house" (the hoop-shaped spaceship that Saffron
guides Serenity towards to be dismantled) is a
Canuck-class explorer.
Memorable Dialog
you are not the man I met a year ago.wav
I
am a mystery.wav
I'm
your wife.wav
all I got is that dumb-ass stick.wav
can I know her?.wav
cleaning latrines with your face.wav
I want you all to meet Mrs. Reynolds.wav
you
two kids.wav
I'm not a monster.wav
how drunk was I last night?.wav
you, sir, are a newlywed.wav
one thing in common.wav
you try to kill them right back.wav
live and try to kill people.wav
that's a dumb planet.wav
I'd be a terrible husband.wav
the special Hell.wav
that sex we were planning to have.wav
an evil, lecherous hump.wav
I have captainy things to do.wav
would you like me to wash your feet?.wav
it's my specialty.wav
touchy.wav
degrading.wav
you're a good man.wav
juggling geese.wav
good
Bible.wav
a long damn while.wav
is there blubber?.wav
I swell to think of you in me.wav
I'm going to go to the special Hell.wav
good
myth.wav
a beautiful woman who can kill me with her pinky.wav
is it Christmas?.wav
isn't that special?.wav
I only fell, is all.wav
molesting innocent captains.wav
I never kiss them on the mouth.wav
she married beneath herself.wav
she was naked and all...articulate.wav
everybody not talking about sex.wav
how a preacher knows so damn much about crime.wav
you didn't just trip did you?.wav
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Episode Studies