Five Lost Episodes of Firefly that Will Sadly Never Air
A few weeks back, the Science channel aired an hour-long reunion special with the Firefly cast where they got them all together to reminisce about old times, ten years later. They talked about all the usual stuff from cancelation to the bond they shared on set, but more importantly, we got a look into the probably-will-never-happen-but-never-say-never future of the show. As in, plotlines that never aired. Some involved dark secrets about characters. Others were a bit on the happier side. A few had almost entire scripts written in people’s heads. Here are a few.
1. Alan Tudyk’s Dogs
Alan Tudyk pitched a few episodes of the show, and one that never aired was when the gang was assigned to capture huge feral dogs for a space dogfighting ring. They accidentally get sprayed with pheromones that attract the dogs, and all hell breaks loose. Eventually, River communes with the dogs calming them, making them useless to sell.
2. Jayne’s Ship
Adam Baldwin suggested that he was thinking about how Jayne might eventually split off from the main group, and get his own ship that he tries to use to compete with Mal. The two have always had something of a rivalry, so it makes sense. Of course, the venture would fail miserably, and Jayne would have to come crawling back humbled, but I think that would have been kind of a great one.
3. The Babies
These aren’t specific episodes per se, but both Alan (Wash) and Sean (Simon) were under the impression that they’d be having babies with their respective love interests, Zoe and Kaylee. The group then went on to say how Jayne could babysit the kids and there’d be a Firefly day care. Pretty funny.
4. Inara’s Secret
We all know at this point that Shepard Book had a secret, as it was made pretty damn obvious at various points of the show. That would have been explained eventually, but so would Inara’s. And here I didn’t even know she had one. It was that she was dying. Yes, dying. She had some sort of terminal condition, that the show never got into, but it was hinted at very, very briefly in a few scenes, and would have come up later for certain.
5. Inara’s No Good Very Bad Day
Inara had a “mystery syringe” on the show, but now we know what it was for. The idea was that if she was forcibly raped by one of her clients, the drug would kill the attacker. One of Joss Whedon’s first episodes pitched to his writers was and episode where Inara got captured by Reavers. When Mal finally found her, the entire ship full of Reavers would be dead, implying a brutal assault. At that point, Mal would finally treat her like a lady. Really, really dark stuff here.
Lastly, Whedon said that if the show had lived on, he wouldn’t have killed anyone like he did in Serenity. So imagine on fans, imagine on.
I still hold out hope that we haven’t seen the last of Firefly, and with Whedon on top of the world as of late, I think there’s a better chance than ever he could revive it in some capacity eventually. Perhaps a pipe dream, but one I’m willing to believe in.
I’m most interested in the storyline where Kaylee is wearing that outfit … anywhere…
I’d be happy with a 2nd movie.
When ever I click something from the website (the title image, in this case) it takes me to some horrible ad/scam website. When I try to close the page it gives me that warning “Are you sure you want to leave this website, Yes/No”.
Does this happen to other people?
@ Johnny D. I use Chrome with AdBlock Pro and that doesn’t happen to me. Hope this helps
@Johnny D
Not anymore when I use chrome. +1 for adblock
I’ve been getting more random pop ups lately, in new windows and new tabs. It’s almost impossible to navigate on my phone.
Jayne splitting off for a bit in his own ship sounds freakin’ amazing.
I missed the reunion show so thanks for tearing open this old wound by reminding us all how much great, great television we missed out on because of Fox’s incompetence.
You guys shouldn’t use AdBlock on sites you like, especially smaller ones because they depend on you seeing ads to generate revenue and stay alive.
However the pop-up thing is very annoying and I would ask Paul or someone to look into that.
As for Firefly, the world needs more of it.
Thanks for the replies! Just wanted to also say that the ad website also popped up when I double-clicked the “Name” field while trying to reply. It’s not my computer, because I’m now on a different PC and it’s doing the same thing. I think this annoying issue should be looked into, I really don’t want to block ads from this website since I want it to keep going.
Shepard Book’s secret was revealed in the comic lead in to Serenity.
a pipe dream i will believe in until all the actors cant play the characters anymore!
I would be just happy if they were able to come out with a new show, same universe in a next generation style where it’s a similar crew but with a variety of differences and taking place 10-20 years after the movie.
There is literally zero chance I believe that Joss wouldn’t have killed anyone. It is undeniable that he would’ve killed someone eventually.
Usually around the time they try to re-negotiate their contracts.
You wanna know why he killed Wash and Shepherd Book? Because both of those actors said that they would be unable to continue if the movie ended up warranting a sequel.
You remember Angel? The awesome guy he kills near the end of season 1? Another actor that had to leave (Though his was due to drug abuse IRL and related issues)
Almost all of the characters that die in the shows he directs are for very specific reasons which come down to actors not being able to continue the show, plain and simple. Very few of his deaths have been for other reasons and not a one of his deaths is for Pure shock value, instead being used to further either character development or the overall plot.
Sometimes people die and it sucks, but more often than not in the grand scheme of things their deaths were not without reason.
Actually, the quote was that he wouldn’t have killed anyone like he did in Serenity. He never said he wouldn’t have killed anyone. Just means that Wash could have died in a different manner, or perhaps someone else.
I saw a preview for the web release of “Con-Men”, and it was pretty much a Firefly reunion.
I would be all for these episodes existing. Seriously 14 and a movie is not enough. Firefly could have been up there with Stargate.
It doesn’t have to have the same major characters. The universe is ripe for spin-offs. We could have the Tams, River cured (ish), as side characters, a troup of bounty hunters as main characters (like the one chasing the Tams in the last episode, but not douchebags (mostly – Jayne still worked after all)).