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Episode Studies by Clayton Barr

enik1138
-at-popapostle-dot-com
"Float Out"
Serenity: Float Out (Dark Horse)

Story by Patton Oswalt
Art by Patric Reynolds
Cover by Jo Chen

 

Friends from Wash’s past toast to their departed comrade.

 

Didja Notice?

 

In this story, a few of Wash's past friends are present on a space station to christen a Firefly-class ship as the Jetwash. Presumably they named the Jetwash in honor of Wash's name.

 

One of the friends uses the term "weasel-bagging", which seems to be directed to his two buddies (and partners in the ship) as they insult each other and the memory of Wash. Not sure what "weasel-bagging" means.

 

On page 3, one of the friends remarks they should have gone with an 03-class Firefly, to save money, implying their ship is the newer 04-class, which has not been seen previously. (The class-3 is the same model as Serenity.) The image below is the Jetwash.

 

Also on page 3, Tagg asks Trey is he has any more gauss guns to fence. Gauss guns are another name for coilguns, which use electromagnetized coils to accelerate a metallic projectile. Mal's pistol is said to be a coilgun at the Firefly-Serenity Database.

 

On page 5, Trey begins a story which, he says to Tagg, began "long ago and far, far out of your jurisdiction." This is probably a nod to the Star Wars saga's slogan "A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away..."

 

On page 9, several smaller ships have been attached to a Reaver vessel. One of them looks similar to a class-01 Firefly, but even more squat and fat (see Firefly-class transport ship at the Firefly-Serenity Database). Maybe it was a predecessor craft made by the Allied Spacecraft Corporation before the Firefly class.

 

On page 10, Trey describes Wash as having done a bootlegger with the retro rockets of the supply scow he was piloting. A bootlegger is a quick 180-degree turn in the shortest possible amount of time and distance (normally associated with an automobile).

 

On page 15, Leland tells of a time he and Wash got drygulched over the surface of a moon called Madcap. To get "drygulched" is to get ambushed, from the American old west when bandits or cattle rustlers would ambush their prey while riding through a dry gulch.

 

On page 21, we see a patch on Trey's jacket sleeve that features a horned skull and the words Phantom Company, suggesting a military unit of some kind. It may also be a play on the business term "phantom company" (also known as a dummy corporation) used as a front to cover for one or more real companies, organizations, or individuals who wish to remain behind the scenes for privacy, crime, or tax purposes.

 

On page 22, Zoe reveals that Wash hated champagne.

 

Zoe replaces the champagne with a bottle of what Leland refers to as un-ga-pae, a cheap rice wine (also spelled as Ng Ka Py) which has also been seen in past episodes of Firefly.

 

The final page of the story reveals that Zoe is pregnant with Wash's baby daughter. 

 

Chinese translations
(Thanks to the Firefly-Serenity Chinese Pinyinary for the translations)
Page/Panel Chinese English
23/2 Chinese writing "bai jiu" on liquor bottle. sorghum spirits
25 Chinese writing in the header of the "Transmissions from the Cortex" letters page, "dai jin". spirited

 

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