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Serenity continues to travel through space, conducting illegal runs across the Star System, under the control of The Alliance. A powerful and fearsome mobster named Adelei Niska demands that the crew of the Serenity to pull a train robbery. The train is carrying medical supplies for a community, and Reynolds and Zoe get held on suspicion. They get free with Inara's help but realize they were tricked and try to return Niska's money. His henchman isn't too happy but Nelson "persuades" the next guy to take the money back. Meanwhile, two blue-handed black-suited operatives close in on River.
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Director:
Joss Whedon
Writer:
Tim Minear, Joss Whedon
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Broadcast: 2002-09-20
Production No.: 1AGE01
Episode Overall No.: 3
Episode Type: Regular Episode
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Episode Notes -  |
This was originally supposed to be episode number 3 (or number 2 if we count Serenity as the two-hour pilot episode it was supposed to be).
The Arabic music playing as the bellydancer dances in the opening bar scene of "The Train Job," is used again in "The Message" as the crew enter the space station to pick up their mail.
The uniforms which the marines on the train are wearing are from the movie Starship Troopers, by Paul Verhoeven. These reappear throughout the series.
When Serenity is about to dock with the space station (at about 14 minutes into the episode) two other ships can be seen briefly. Those look very similar to a PatCom or Dreadnought type ship from the computer game Independence War, which features basically the same background story as Firefly.
Summer Glau, who plays River, has only had one acting role before this playing the Prima Ballerina in the Angel episode 'Waiting in the Wings'. Whedon wrote and directed the episode and he was so impressed with her performance, cast her as River.
Rating: 4.9/7
Before deciding on the red logo for the show, it was originally green.
Quotes:
Book: There's neither of us can pay a tenth of what your crew makes on one of your "jobs."
Mal: Are you referring to our perfectly legitimate business enterprises?
Mal: Hell, this job I would pull for free.
Zoe: Can I have your share?
Mal: No.
Zoe: If you die, can I have your share?
Mal: Yes.
Zoe: Sir, is there some information we might maybe be lacking as to why there's an entire Fed squad sitting on this train?
Mal: Doesn't concern us.
Zoe: It kinda concerns me
Mal: I mean that they're not protecting the goods. If they were, they wouldn't be letting people get past them.
Zoe: You don't think that changes the situation a bit?
Mal: I surely do. Makes it more fun!
Zoe: Sir. I think you have a problem with your brain being missing.
Bar Patron: Hey, you gonna drink the Alliance with me? Six years today, the Alliance sent the Browcoats runnin', pissin' their pants...you know, your coat is kinda a brownish color.
Mal: It was on sale.
Bar Patron: You didn't toast. Y'know, I'm thinkin' you're one o' those Independents...
Mal: And I'm thinking you weren't burdened with an overabundance of schoolin', so why don't we just ignore each other 'til we go away?
Bar Patron: The Browncoats were a bunch o' cowardly, inbred pisspots, should'a been killed off o' every world spinnin'.
Mal: Say that to my face.
Bar Patron: I said you're a coward and a pisspot. Now what're you gonna do about it?
Mal: Nothing. I just wanted you to face me so she could get behind you.
(Zoe slugs the patron)
Mal: Drunks are so cute.
Zoe: Just have an image in my head of a guy hanging from the ceiling.
Mal: I got an image of it not being me.
Niska: (about his torture victim) My wife's nephew. At dinner I am getting earful; there's no way out of that.
Inara: Mal, if you're being a gentleman, I may die of shock.
Zoe: He's a psycho, you know. Niska.
Mal: He's not the first psycho to hire us, nor the last. You think that's a commentary on us?
Book: I do feel awfully useless.
Inara: You can always pray they make it back safely.
Book: I don't think the Captain would much like me praying for him.
Inara: Don't tell him. I never do.
Simon: What are we doing?
Kaylee: Crime.
(after killing the main thug)
Mal: Now, this is all the money Niska gave us in advance...
Second Thug: I get it. I’m good. Best thing for everyone. I’m right there with you.
(after Jayne shoots an opponent in the leg)
Mal: Nice shot.
Jayne: I was aimin’ for his head.
Sheriff: (Mal's) story had kind of an odor to it.
Inara: Yes. It’s not the only thing about him that does.
Jayne: You can’t change that by getting’ all…”bendy.”
Wash: All what?
Jayne: You got the—the light from the console…to keep you—lift you up. (chuckles) Oh, they shine like… little angels.
Wash: Did he just go crazy and fall asleep?
Zoe: Funny, sir, how you always seem to find yourself in an Alliance-friendly bar come U-Day looking for a quiet drink.
Mal: Now this is a sign of your tragic space dementia, all paranoid and crotchety. Breaks the heart.
Inara: What did I say to you about barging into my shuttle?
Mal: That it was manly and...impulsive?
Inara: Yes, precisely. Only the exact phrase I used was "don't".
Mal: We're not thieves...but we are thieves. Point is, we're not taking what's his.
Jayne: You know what the chain of command is? It's the chain I go get and beat you with 'till you understand who's in ruttin' command around here.
Mal: Kaylee, what the hell's goin' on in the engine room? Were there monkeys? Some terrifying space monkeys maybe got loose?
Mal: They say never hit a man with a closed fist, but it is on occasion hilarious.
Mal: Wash, we got some local color happening. A grand entrance would not go amiss.
Trivia:
In the overhead shot of the train, just before Serenity comes into the shot, the wheels on the train that are F/X'd out elsewhere can be seen in the shadow next to the track.
What the heck does the opening narration mean? So, they found a new solar system and hundreds of new earths? So are they all in one solar system, or what?
Maybe this will change in future episodes, but all the planets we see in this episode (including the intro and the opening credits) are dusty and dry and kinda desert-like. But we're told in the opening narration they were all terraformed. So why'd they go around and create a bunch of deserts? (some didn't find this too unusual, thinking maybe the process was limited to desert creation.
Allusions:
Mal: I'm thinkin' we will rise again.
This line is a play off of the motto of people who support the U.S. Confederacy: "The South will rise again."
Jayne: Hey, hey. Them ain't "kosherized" rules.
Referring to the Jewish word "kosher" which in pop culture has come to mean "OK", or "alright." |
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