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.

RW349 - Austin Powers Rewatch - Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me

In this episode of the Austin Powers Rewatch, Cory and Nathan have their mojo working overtime as they discuss "Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me."

Trailer:

Our Favourite Trivia:

An early trailer for this film was unusual in that it referred to another film scheduled for release in the summer of 1999. It included the voice-over "If you only see one movie this summer, see Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999). But if you see two movies, see Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me (1999)."

Theme Song - Dr. Evil by They Might Be Giants

The movie's soundtrack contains the 1999 hit "Beautiful Stranger" by Madonna. The song won a Grammy Award in 2000. Mike Myers appears as Austin Powers in the video, directed by Brett Ratner. Another single "Word Up!" by Mel B, was released on June 28, 1999. It peaked at number 13 on the UK Singles Chart.

There were two variations of the posters; one of them asterisked out the middle of the offending word. Other posters had named the film as Austin Powers 2. According to the Collins English Dictionary, the use of the word "shag" in the film's title helped to increase the word's acceptability, reducing its shock value and giving it a more jocular, relaxed connotation.

Although the word "shag" is less offensive in the U.S. than most other countries, not all translated the title into something less raunchy. The Norwegian title of the movie is "Spionen som spermet meg", which is a slightly dirtier way of saying "The spy who ejaculated on me". Singapore considered a title change to The Spy Who Shioked Me (shiok means "to feel good")

When Heather Graham was asked to audition for the role, at Mike Myers' request, she was saved from a porn career. Before she was called by her agent, she was seriously considering accepting a major part in a softcore lesbian movie after not having any meaningful film roles in close to a year and a half. The first thing she did after getting paid for this movie was buy a copy of the porno in which she would have appeared.

Catherine Zeta-Jones was considered for the role of Felicity Shagwell.

Rob Lowe's impression of Robert Wagner was developed several years before its appearance in the film. Lowe dated one of Wagner's daughters.

During the Elvis Costello scene, Austin remarks to Felicity, "You're quite good on your feet." Her response, "I'm even better off my feet," was originally intended to end "on my back" but was deemed inappropriate.

Michael McDonald has been in all three Austin Powers movies as different characters. In Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery (1997), he played the henchman killed by the steamroller. In this movie, he played one of the N.A.T.O. monitoring technicians. In Austin Powers in Goldmember (2002), he played the guard standing next to Queen Elizabeth II (Jeannette Charles) when Austin was being knighted.

Dr. Evil's base in the moon is divided in two units: Moon Unit Alpha and Moon Unit Zappa, the latter being the name of Frank Zappa's daughter.

Nominated at the 72nd Academy Awards for Best Makeup (Michèle Burke and Mike Smithson).

What's Up Next?

Austin finds his way into the 21st Century with "Austin Powers in Goldmember."

Contact Us:

Send in your feedback to TheRewatchPodcast@gmail.com

Follow the show on Facebook, Twitter @RewatchPod or Instagram

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

RW348 - Firefly S01E04-05 - Dig Safe

In this weeks episode of The Firefly Rewatch, Cory and Tom are unlucky in love and business as they discuss episodes 4 & 5, "Shindig" and "Safe."

Shindig:

Episode Title: Shindig

Written by: Jane Espenson

Directed by: Vern Gillum

Original airdate: November 1, 2002 as episode 6

The Serenity crew finds themself heading back to Persephone in search of work, leaving Inara time to schedule a few days with a client named Atherton. While Zoe and Wash enjoy a little personal “couple“ time together, Kaylee finds herself enamored with a fluffy dress, before rushing off after an insult from Mal.

Badger shows up and gives the details of a new job to Mal and Jayne which involve a man named Warwick Harrow who refuses to deal with Badger while Inara prepares for her meeting with Atherton at a high class party later that night, at which he asks her to stay with him forever as his own personal companion, a request that she begins to consider. 

Mal ends up buying the fluffy dress for Kaylee as a part of a cover so they can attend that same party and find Warwick Harrow and hopefully get hired by him. While this all starts to work out, Mal sees the way Atherton treats Inara as property and after talking with her as they dance together, he punches Atherton, unwilling to put up with his condescending attitude anymore. However, Mal learns quickly that that very action is an invitation to a duel, in this case, a sword fight to the death. 

While the rest of Serenity’s crew begin a plan to extricate their captain, Badger shows up with his men to make sure they don’t leave, explaining that to do so would sully his own name and reputation. While he keeps the crew there, River appears suddenly and starts to talk to Badger using his accent and speaks of a shared homeworld before leaving to return to her room. 

Back off the ship, Mal has been put up in quarters to ensure he doesn’t try and run off from the duel, and Inara attempts to teach him some sword fighting skills as he asks her not to leave while at the same time insulting her profession.

The next morning the duel begins and while Mal thinks he has the upper hand, it’s clear Atherton was toying with him  and begins to injure him in several areas. As Atherton prepares to deliver the final blow, Inara begs him to not do it and promises she will stay with him if he relents. Mal uses the distraction to hit Atherton with his broken sword, subduing the man and holding him at bay with his own sword. Atherton insults Inara and threatens to put her out of work to which she replies that he has now earned a mark against him which will cause all companions to not accept his offers from now on. 

As Mal and Inara walk off, Warwick, impressed with Mal’s dedication, decides to hire him to move his cargo off world. They return to the ship, dismissing Badger and his crew, while Kaylee retires to her room, gazing lovingly at her fluffy dress. The next morning as Mal recovers, he and Inara share a drink while looking over their cargo, a giant herd of livestock.

Shiny Trivia:

According to costume designer, Shawna Topcic, Zoe doesn’t remove her necklace because it represents her marriage bond to Wash.

Have you noticed the “Blue Sun” logo scattered in the background? According to the fan wiki, the Blue Sun Corporation is the richest and most politically connected corporation in the system.

The game that Jayne, Book and Simon play is called “Tall Card,” created by the writer of this episode, Jane Espenson. The rules of the game were explained to the actors and later appeared on the Firefly website. A version of the game was created by Toy Vault and can be purchased on Amazon or Ebay.

The chandelier at the ball has a huge gold ring around it. It’s actually The One Ring from Lord of the Rings, complete with Elvish script.

"Captain Tightpants" is an inside joke referring to an incident that occurred while shooting the original pilot episode "Serenity." When Kaylee gets shot and Mal bends over to help her, the back of his pants split.

As the crew begin to wander through the streets of Persephone, a ship with an oval front section followed by two square sections lands in the background. This ship is the Starlight Intruder from the Star Wars graphic novel series Dark Empire.

The Badger role was supposed to be played by series creator, Joss Whedon.

The final scene revealing the cargo as cattle was created digitally because, among other reasons, cattle do not walk on grating, of which the cargo bay floor is made.

Edward Atterton played Atherton Wing. He did a small handful of roles after Firefly, including a couple episodes of Alias, and a show called Three, about some criminals who are forced to work together. He was also a supporting actor in The Man In The Iron Mask. 

Warwick was played by Larry Drake. He was in Darkman and Darkman 2 as Durant, the original Karate Kid as Yahoo 1, and a horror film called Dr. Giggles. His biggest TV role is probably playing Benny Stulwicz in LA Law, but he has also made a name for himself doing voices for various animation projects, such as Batman Beyond, Justice League, Scooby Doo and Johnny Bravo to name a few. 

Murphy was played by Larry Pennell. We’ve seen him before in the Quantum Leap episode “Goodbye Norma Jean” (the Marilyn Monroe episode) as Clark Gable, playing him again later in a TV movie (also about Marilyn).

The younger suitor was Michael McMillian. Has recently made a name for himself in My Crazy Ex-Girlfriend and True Blood. He also had some other supporting roles in various shows, and a lead role in the Amanda Byrnes sitcom What I Like About You. 

Roy Werner played a gentleman. Aside from a number of bit parts, he had a role in I Can Still Tell Your Wife Bill.com; it’s a movie, but the website is a collection of pictures and statements that are supposedly used by the jilted character who was a mistress attempting to blackmail Bill.

Safe:

Episode Title: Safe

Written by: Drew Z. Greenberg

Directed by: Michael Grossman

Original airdate: November 8, 2002 as episode 7

Simon reminisces about his and River’s past when they were children while at long last, Serenity lands at her destination, where Mal and Jayne along with Book begin negotiating for payment for their livestock cargo while Simon, River, Inara and Kaylee head into town. 

River ends up wandering off, participating in a lively ceremony and dance, easily picking up the complex moves. Simon recalls again his past when he tried to warn his parents that something was wrong with River at the institute when he received letters from her that contained bizarre phrases and simple misspellings, but to no avail as they saw no issues. 

Meanwhile Mal’s bargaining goes sideways as the local authorities show up and a shootout begins between them and Mal’s customers. The shootout ends quickly, with Mal retrieving their money, but unfortunately Book was shot, leaving them to rush him back to the ship, and sending Wash to retrieve Simon. 

His search is in vain however as Wash reports that the town has knowledge of hill people who live on the outskirts and often kidnap people they find useful, mostly tradesmen like the doctor and concludes he was likely taken. Knowing every second counts with Book’s fatal wound, he chooses to take off to find medical help elsewhere rather than waste time trying to search for Simon and River. 

Meanwhile, Simon thinks back to the time he tried to find someone to help him find River and ended up being arrested for it, only to be bailed out by his father who chastised him and warned him he would not do so again. Simon and River are then taken to the hill people’s town where there is plenty for a doctor to do. River makes a mental connection with a young mute girl which causes the locals to accuse her of being a witch. Further ire is aroused when River reads the mind of the local leader and implies that he killed the previous man in charge, leading him to order her burnt at the stake to purge the evil from her. 

Back on Serenity, Mal has little choice but to ask The Alliance for medical help. They are at first unwilling but upon seeing Book’s ID card they immediately rush him into surgery, healing his wound, and then allowing them to leave. Mal asks why that is and Book says he may tell him the reason someday. 

As River is being readied for the fire, Simon attacks several men and then climbs up to the stake with her, telling the men to light it, intending to die with his sister. Luckily, Serenity appears in the night sky above them with Jayne training a laser scope on the townspeople as Mal and Zoe waltz into the area, brandishing their guns. They receive Simon and River and return to the ship. Simon asks Mal why he came back, who answers simply he is part of his crew, as they all sit down for a well earned meal.

Shiny Trivia:

There is a Chinese proverb that says, "A badly painted tiger looks like a dog; a badly carved swan looks like a duck." The meaning of this proverb is that it's better not to do certain things than to do them badly.

The final meal for the episode was steak, courtesy of their cargo.

Isabella Hoffman played Simon's mother, Regan. Of her 90 credits, the majority are one and done appearances in sitcoms or dramas. She did have recurring roles in the later seasons of JAG and Providence (a doctor with a ghost friend), and a leading role in Beggars and Choosers (a network executives comedy). Her biggest role was Kate in the Judd Hirsch vehicle Dear John. She was also in The Flash and Legends of Tomorrow as Professor Stein's wife, Clarissa.

Andy Rolfes played older Grange. He had a bunch of one hit roles, but we've seen him before in the Sliders episode “Exodus Part 2” as a sergeant.

Doralee was played by Erica Tazel. Her biggest role was in Justified, where she was a main cast member. She’s also done a bunch of one off parts in shows like God Friended Me, Legends of Tomorrow, The Orville, NCIS and The Office.

Young Simon was played by little known actor Zac Efron, who has apparently starred in movies such as The Greatest Showman, High School Musical, Hairspray, Extremely Wicked (Ted Bundy story), Baywatch, Neighbors, and so many more. Most recently he voiced Fred Jones in Scoob.

Whats Next?

Cory and Tom will be discussing episodes 6&7, "Our Mrs. Reynolds" & "Jaynetown."

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.