RW352 - Firefly S01E08-09 - Out of Ariel

In this weeks episode of The Firefly Rewatch, Cory and Tom drift into a heist as they discuss episodes 8 & 9, "Out of gas" and "Ariel."

Out of Gas:

Episode Title: Out of Gas

Written by: Tim Minear

Directed by: David Solomon

Original airdate: October 25, 2002 as episode 5

After a failing catalyzer cripples Serenity’s engines, cutting off life support, and causing a fireball to fly through the ship injuring Zoe, Mal orders Wash to leave her in the infirmary and attempts to send a buoy out to find help, which he does reluctantly. However with few options remaining, Mal is forced to order the crew away in the shuttles in hopes of finding help while he stays behind in case someone does answer the buoy. 

As Mal waits in the cockpit, going in and out of sleep, a ship does eventually answer and claims to have a replacement part but is wary of Mal, asking him to have no weapons when they come aboard. Unfortunately for Mal, his rescuers do come aboard with weapons, holding him at gunpoint while they search the ship to see if Mal’s story was true. Upon confirming, the leader of the rescue ship shoots Mal, saying he’s taking his ship in exchange for the catalyzer. Mal grabs a nearby gun and orders the would-be rescuers off the ship to which they quickly oblige. 

Mal grabs the replacement part and begins a slow, injured walk to the engine room, all the while reminiscing about when he first got Serenity and showed it to Zoe. Zoe fails to see the potential in the ship but ultimately follows her captain, as Mal flash forwards ahead to when they meet their possible pilot, Wash, whom Zoe takes an immediate dislike to. Mal explains they need a pilot considering they have a genius engineer signed on named Bester. 

However, in another remembered memory, when Mal visits Bester later to find out why the ship isn’t ready to go, he finds his engineer in flagrante delictico with a young woman. Bester tries to explain that a certain part of the engine is just broken but the young woman, Kaylee, quickly interjects saying the part isn’t actually needed and manages to jury rig a fix that gets the engines running, leaving Mal to offer her Bester’s job. 

Mal next recalls when he met Inara who claims that he will rent her the shuttle for a fraction of the price because of the respectability she can bring to his ship, and gives him two requirements: never come in without being invited and to not call her a whore ever again. Mal flashes ahead next to the town when he and Zoe are being held at gunpoint by a group of men, including a man named Jayne. As they try to talk their way out of being shot, it’s revealed Jayne is not earning a good commission and his style of living is rather low. When Mal offers better pay and living quarters, Jayne turns on his gang and shoots them, accepting the offer. 

Back in the present, Mal makes it to the engine room and eventually manages to get the replacement part in, and makes his way to the bridge to recall the shuttles, but collapses due to a prolonged absence of oxygen and the shot blast he took to the guy. He awakens to find himself surrounded by the crew, who returned on Zoe’s orders, not wanting to abandon Mal. The crew leaves him to rest as Book assures Mal that they will still be there when he awakens. 

Mal flashes back to one final memory where a salesman is selling him on a beauty of a ship that will last him years, when he turns suddenly and sees the ship that actually captures his heart, Serenity, awaiting his purchase.

Shiny Trivia:

The director of this episode, David Solomon, got his start as an editors assistant on My Favorite Year in 1982 and Risky Business in 1983. He went on to be an editor on shows such as Bay City Blues, Hill Street Blues, Miami Vice, Perry Mason, and then Matlock where he also got his first directing credit. Firefly is his second directing credit, but he gained more on Buffy, Kevin Hill, Burn Notice, Chuck, Dollhouse, Fringe, Once Upon a Time, Extant, Grimm, Zoo, Agents of SHIELD and Star Trek Discovery, to name a few.

Bester was played by Dax Griffin. Recently he played young Hank in Antman and Ant Man and the Wasp. He starred in The Bold and the Beautiful for 54 episodes and Sunset Beach for 326 episodes, as well as doing a bunch of guest roles.

Zoe was knocked unconscious briefly in this episode. Gina Torres had just married Lawrence Fishburn and the couple went on their honeymoon, which meant she wasn’t available for the first 4 days of shooting. The couple later separated and their divorce was finalised in May of 2018.

Alan Tudyk took the big red "recall" button from the Serenity set and presented it to Joss Whedon, telling him that if Whedon managed to get the series renewed, he could press it to call the cast back

Ariel:

Episode Title: Ariel

Written by: Jose Molina

Directed by: Allan Kroeker

Original airdate: November 15, 2002 as episode 8

With Shepard Book dropped off for some meditation at an abbey, the crew heads to a core planet called Ariel in order for Inara to undergo her annual medical exam. Mal orders everyone else to remain on board Serenity due to the high number of Alliance officers on world. During the casual talk in which Jayne insults Simon yet again, River ends up attacking him  and slashing his chest. Mal tells Simon he needs to keep River under control but then asks sympathetically if River is getting worse, to which he says yes. 

Simon comes up with a plan for the crew to make a lot of money: help smuggle him and River into the leading medical facility there so he can use their equipment to scan River and he will instruct them on how to obtain valuable medicine from the hospital storage.

Simon trains the crew on specific medical terms so they can pass easily through the hospital while Kaylee and Wash hit up a junkyard to find parts to craft their own medical vehicle rather than steal one and risk getting caught for that. Finally, Simon and River are put to sleep, pretending to be dead. 

The plan goes well without a hitch and they all get inside easily, with Mal and Zoe heading off to procure the meds while Jayne stays with Simon and River as they start to wake up. Jayne however makes a small detour and contacts the police, informing them he has arrived with the two fugitives and confirming his reward. 

Mal and Zoe end up being confronted by a doctor who questions their credentials, but Zoe takes him out by using a defibrillator and they continue on to the med supply storage area. Meanwhile, on their way to the scanning room, River indicates a patient who is going to die and Simon ends up intervening, saving the man’s life and scolding the young intern who was administering the wrong drug. As they scan River’s brain, Simon learns that they had cut into her amygdala, taking away her ability to control her emotions.

Jayne tells them that the plan has changed and begins to head out but are soon confronted by federal marshals and arrested, including Jayne who was double crossed by the feds. As Mal and Zoe attempt to find out why Simon and the others missed their rendezvous for escape, Jayne manages to start a fight in which Simon joins in, overcoming their guards. 

Elsewhere the two mysterious blue gloves men show up and begin using a blue rod which makes people bleed, causing death to anyone who came into contact with River and Simon. Mal and Zoe show up in the nick of time to get them out and back onto Serenity with Inara docking her shuttle as well, as they take off and escape. Simon praises Jayne for his bravery in helping them escape. 

As they get away, Mal hits Jayne with a wrench and locks him in the airlock and opens it, intending to let him die when they leave the atmosphere for space, due to suspecting his traitorous deal with the feds. Jayne denies it but ultimately realizes the captain is serious and admits his wrongdoing, telling him to make up a story so they don’t know what he did. Mal tells Jayne if he is ever going to stab him in the back again, do it to his face, as he closes the airlock but leaves Jayne inside for the time being.

Shiny Trivia:

The director of this episode, Allan Kroeker, has a TV directing career going back to 1979. He’s worked on shows such as The New Twilight Zone, Friday the 13th: The Series, Poltergeist: The Legacy, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Voyager & Enterprise, Earth: Final Conflict, Charmed, Supernatural, Dollhouse and Defiance.

The futuristic body carriers used to transport Simon and River are actually automotive rooftop cargo boxes made by Thule (the Evolution series), they were in production at the time of filming.

In the scene where Wash and Kaylee are in the junkyard, there is a sign in the background for "Flynn's" in the same style and font as in the movie Tron.

When River wakes in the morgue, there is a Star Trek: The Next Generation LCARS style display panel behind her.

Blake Robbins played the officer. He wrote, directed and starred in The Sublime and the Beautiful, a film about a teacher raising a family with his wife when tragedy strikes, and starring his real life family. He has also had recurring characters on The Office (Tom Halpert) and Oz (Officer Brass). 

The obnoxious doctor was played by Tom Virtue. We’ve seen him in the Lois and Clark episode “Top Copy” as the Doctor. He also played Major Derlin in the NPR production of Return of the Jedi, and has had bit parts in American Horror Story, The Green Book and Timeless.

Whats Next?

Cory and Tom will be discussing episodes 10 & 11, "War Stories" & "Trash."

Thanks:

For more information, head over to the Firefly-Serenity Fan Wiki. We thank them for compiling information on the show.

Contact Us:

Send us an email! TheRewatchPodcast@gmail.com

Follow the show on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram and discuss Seaquest with the fans on Reddit

Support the Show:

Head over to our TeePublic store today and buy some merch! Every item sold sees a small return to us to cover our hosting costs and we appreciate every purchase.

RW351 - Austin Powers Rewatch - Austin Powers in Goldmember

In this episode of the Austin Powers Rewatch, Cory and Nathan get things happening as they discuss "Austin Powers in Goldmember."

Trailer:

Our Favourite Trivia:

The title of the film, Goldmember, led to legal action being taken by MGM, the distributors of the James Bond film franchise, that briefly led to the film's title being removed from promotional material and trailers. The dispute was quickly resolved and the film title remained unchanged on the provision that the film would include trailers in its cinema releases for the then-upcoming James Bond film, Die Another Day, and The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers.

Sir Sean Connery was considered to play Nigel Powers.

Mike Myers has said that his glasses in all three movies are meant to look like those worn by Sir Michael Caine in The Ipcress File (1965), so Caine took the original glasses (model "Teviot 74" by U.K. Optical) to the set, and wore them as Nigel.

In real life, Sir Michael Caine dated two of Robert Wagner's wives: Jill St. John and Natalie Wood.

Seth Green claims that the ending sequence showing Scott Evil dancing around his father's lair was unscripted. While fooling around between takes, his hi-jinks were caught on film, and director Jay Roach decided to include it in the movie.

During the "Hard Knock Life" rap song, you can see Mini-Me's and Dr. Evil's Prison Number. Dr. Evil's prison number is 00001 and Mini-Me's prison number is 00001/8, a reference to the fact that Mini-Me is 1/8 of Dr. Evil's size.

Katie Couric took great pride by previewing her cameo role in the movie as a prison guard. On Today, Couric showed a clip of the film featuring her and explained how visual effects were used to put a unibrow on her face.

Heather Graham reprised her role as Felicity Shagwell in a scene that was ultimately cut. Will Ferrell reprised his role of Mustafa in another deleted scene, in which he has to answer a question after being asked four times.

The items on Austin Powers' briefly-glimpsed "Things To Do Before I Die" list are, in order: Become International Man of Mystery; Save World from Certain Doom; Find True Love; Go to Outer Space; Travel Through Time, Backward and Forward; Be Cryogenically Frozen; Catch Dr. Evil in the First Act; Threesome with Japanese Twins; Win Daddy's Respect.

The e-mail that Austin receives while explaining "the internet" to Foxxy reads: "Dear Mr. Powers, a new ATM card will be sent to you by FedEx, because your account was compromised by an unknown hacker, who obtained your PIN while you were purchasing an mp3 player on eBay, your bank".

Signs found in the background of Dr. Evil's sub: All Henchmen Must Clock In With Their Own Timecard, 42 Days Since Last Accident/Liquidation, Hang In There!

What's Up Next?

It's time for another Random Rutger Rewatch! This time, we're checking out "The Osterman Weekend."

Contact Us:

Send in your feedback to TheRewatchPodcast@gmail.com

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Head over to our TeePublic store today and buy some merch! Every item sold sees a small return to us to cover our hosting costs

RW350 - Firefly S01E06-07 - Our Town

In this weeks episode of The Firefly Rewatch, Cory and Tom are loved and worshiped as they discuss episodes 6 & 7, "Our Mrs. Reynolds" and "Jaynestown."

Our Mrs. Reynolds:

Episode Title: Our Mrs. Reynolds

Written by: Joss Whedon

Directed by: Vondie Curtis-Hall

Original airdate: October 4, 2002 as episode 3

The Serenity crew end up taking down a group of bandits on the planet of Triumph, saving the local townspeople and resulting in a celebration lasting well into the night with a drunken Mal and Jayne being given gifts, a wreath for Mal and a rainstick for Jayne. The next morning Serenity takes off for their next destination of Beaumond but are stunned to see they have a new passenger stowing away on board, a girl named Saffron who introduces herself as Mal’s wife. 

Book consults an encyclopedia and informs the crew that Mal actually did marry the girl during the celebration by accepting her wreath and then drinking from her cup of wine. After some joking by the crew, Mal gets flustered and ends up hurting Saffron’s feelings and she runs off. After a pep talk from Mal, Saffron goes to cook a meal for her new husband, showing herself to be more of a subservient type of wife. 

Mal visits Inara to get away from his wife and the two verbally spar before he leaves and is confronted by Jayne who wishes to trade his favorite gun, Vera, in exchange for Saffron to which Mal refuses, stating again that she is not property to be sold or traded. 

Later than night, Saffron begins to seduce Mal in his quarters to which he resists but ultimately allows himself to be kissed which causes him to pass out due to a narcoleptic drug on her lips. Saffron then goes to Wash and tries to again use her powers of seduction but to no avail, leaving her to physically injure him in order to sabotage their piloting controls before fusing the cockpit door shut. 

While trying to escape, Saffron runs into Inara and immediately tries to seduce her but she sees through her ruse and the two fight. Saffron manages to get away and escapes to a shuttle while Inara rushes to Mal, fearing he is dead but upon finding him alive, albeit unconscious, she kisses him, resulting in her succumbing to the narcotic lipstick residue as well. 

Upon waking, they discover that Saffron had locked the controls on a specific heading, a carrion house net where ships are disabled, and then fixed up for their own use or sold for parts, with the crew inside them being killed. While Wash and Kaylee try to repair the ship, Jayne uses Vera to shoot out one of the control nodules on the net, shorting it out before also firing a shot into the main control room, killing the engineers who had been long time partners with Saffron. 

With Serenity repaired, Mal finds Saffron on a snowy planet and confronts her, holding her captive as they banter back and forth, eventually ending with Mal not killing her but knocking her unconscious, leaving with his stolen shuttle. Back on board, Mal asks Inara about how she ended up unconscious, not believing her story that she fell. Mal incorrectly assumes that it happened because Inara kissed Saffron, leaving her surprised and glad that her kiss with him wasn’t discovered.

Shiny Trivia:

Vondie Curtis-Hall has directed on several TV series, including ER, The Shield, Boston Legal and Gossip Girl. He’s mostly known as an actor in small parts, with his more noticeable roles being the basketball game vendor in Coming to America and Miller in Die Hard 2.

Christina Hendricks played Saffron. She is, of course, best known for playing Joan on Mad Men. She was a lead actor in the shows Good Girl and Beggars and Choosers (network exec comedy) and Kevin Hill (lawyer raising a new inherited kid drama). She played Lois Lane in All Star Superman, as well. Most recently she played Officer Jaffe in Scoob and Gabby Gabby in Toy Story 4. She’s also a supporting voice actor in an animated series called Solar Opposites, which stars Thomas Middleditch, Sean Gianbrone and Tom Kenny.

River did have a speaking part in this episode, but it was cut because she would obviously be able to sense the subterfuge going on.

Jaynestown:

Episode Title: Jaynestown

Written by: Ben Edlund

Directed by: Marita Grabiak

Original airdate: October 18, 2002 as episode 4

Serenity touches down in the town of Canton to procure some merchandise for a job, with Jayne having many misgivings about going in due to some trouble he had there years ago. 

As Mal, Jayne, Kaylee, Wash, and Simon tour the town with Simon posing as the well to do boss of them all, looking to purchase their precious mined ceramic clay, they come across a statue of Jayne and quickly learn that the townspeople, known as mudders due to their job of mining the mud for the special clay, regard Jayne as a folk hero, even composing songs about him. 

Jayne explains that years ago after he tried stealing money from the magistrate, Higgins, he was forced to toss everything he could from his ship in order to escape, which included the money. When the money landed in the middle of the mudders’ camp, they took him to be a sort of Robin Hood figure and began their hero worship. 

When the mudders discover Jayne has returned, a celebration is started at the pub while a man contacts Mal and informs him that his contact who had the merchandise was found out and killed. Mal convinces the mudders to hold a special day to celebrate Jayne’s return so that they can use the distraction to get the cargo loaded up while Kaylee and Simon get drunk as the doctor starts to reveal some feelings for Kaylee. 

Meanwhile, Inara has business with Magistrate Higgans who has hired her to help his son Fess finally become a man and lose his virginity. Higgans tries to rush her into it but she escorts him out, explaining that she will handle things the way they are supposed to be done according to Companion training. Once Inara and Fess have time together, she puts him at ease and helps him realize that to truly become a man he needs to be his own person and not let his father rule over him. 

Back on Serenity, River has started to write in Book’s bible in an attempt to “fix it” because of the things that don’t make sense. Book explains it’s not about making sense but having faith. 

Word gets back to Higgins that Jayne has returned resulting in him freeing a prisoner named Stitch Hessian who has been in a hot box prison ever since Jayne betrayed him and kicked him out of his ship along with the money so many years ago. Now armed and angry, he heads off to find Jayne. 

The next morning, Simon and Kaylee awaken in each other’s arms but once Mal shows up, Simon gets flustered and inadvertently offends Kaylee, leading her to go off with Mal, leaving Simon at the pub. Stitch shows up and beats up Simon as he interrogates him on Jayne’s whereabouts. When he hears the mudders shouting for Jayne, he drags Simon to the celebration. 

Jayne, still reveling in his newfound fame, gives a speech that impresses even Serenity’s crew but is interrupted when stitch shows up, threatening to kill Simon. As Simon gets help from Kaylee, Stitch gives a speech about what really happened the day the money fell, and raises his gun to shoot Jayne but a young mudder who Jayne had connected with leaps in front of him, taking a fatal bullet. Jayne is enraged and throws a knife at Stitch and the two begin fighting with Jayne eventually beating him to submission. Distraught over the boy’s sacrifice, Jayne tells the mudders that aren’t any heroes, just people like him. Another young boy returns Jayne’s knife to him, and Jayne, realizing they still see him as a hero, pushes down his statue and leaves. 

As Mal and crew begin to take off, Wash discovers they have been landlocked by magistrate Higgins. Inara comes to see what the problem is when suddenly the landlocked is released, as Fess has finally decided to stand up to his father and release the ship as a thank you to Inara for teaching him a valuable lesson. 

As Jayne says he doesn’t understand why the boy made the sacrifice to save him, Mal explains that the statue isn’t about him, the person, it’s about what the townspeople need, an idea, or something to believe in.

Shiny Trivia:

Higgens was played by Gregory Itzin. We’ve seen him before in the Voyagers! episodes “Bully and Billy” and “Pursuit” playing a German revolutionary named Ernst and a newspaper writer named Davis. He was also in Quantum Leap playing Sam Phillips in the episode “Memphis Melody.” He’s a true “that guy“ appearing in so many guest spots over the years, as well as a run in 24 as the president. He’s also had recurring roles in Big Love, the Mentalist and Covert Affairs.

The Foreman was played by Jordan Lund. We’ve seen him playing Noble John Spanier in The Flash ‘90 episode “Watching The Detectives” (a female investigator finds out Barry’s identity and he is blackmailed by the Mayor). He’s had bit parts in Fletch Lives, Adventures of Ford Fairlane and various Star Trek shows, among others. 

The Well Dressed Man was Bob McCracken, who we’ve seen in the Lois and Clark episode “I’m Looking Through You” as the Invisible Man. 

The Ballad of Jayne borrows from The Ballad of Jesse James.

Adam Baldwin admitted to swiping the Jayne statue's head as a souvenir after filming the episode. Later on, additional shots were needed for the episode (scene where the crew first sees the statue) and the crack where the head was broken off and then reattached is visible.

Whats Next?

Cory and Tom will be discussing episodes 8 & 9, "Out of Gas" & "Ariel."

Thanks:

For more information, head over to the Firefly-Serenity Fan Wiki. We thank them for compiling information on the show.

Contact Us:

Send in your feedback to TheRewatchPodcast@gmail.com

Follow the show on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram and discuss Seaquest with the fans on Reddit

Support the Show:

Head over to our TeePublic store today and buy some merch! Every item sold sees a small return to us to cover our hosting costs and we appreciate every perchance.