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Originally Posted by Travis
Heh (spoiler alert as we recap favorite scenes).
From the movie, watching Jayne hit the clothesline, then catch the guys feet only to drive him head first into the ground, one of many, many great Jayne moments ("I'll be in my bunk" and "They're whores [Mal].........I'm in! [Jayne]"
One of my all time favorites was from the Mrs. Reynolds episode, at the very end where there's a great leadup scene between Inara and Mal where the conversation and the feel of the scene really seems to build up to a breakthrough in the relationship, only for Mal to be more of a hormone guided missile than ever before when he figures out that Inara *obviously* kissed Saffron. The way he delivers his last line and walks out in such a triumpant manner had me in tears. The engine scene was awesome as well, though at least in that case I had kind of an inkling of how it would go.
The thing about this series, as they talk about in the extras, was they never knew, week to week, if they'd get to continue it. Sure Whedon had probably 4 to 5 seasons worth of story planned out, but as much as I love the Angel series, there was not a single episode of Firefly that I didn't enjoy. Can't say that for any other series, or for 3/4 of a season for any other series (definitely no low points like the cross over for Gina Torres in Angel, worst series of episodes in their 5 seasons).
Out of the series (and I'm likely going to miss one or two as this is off the top of my head), I probably enjoyed the flashback episode (can't remember the title, the one where it's centered on Mal trying to repair the ship, starts with him falling to the deck then recaps up to that point before continuing) and Jaynestown the most. Neither are really action based in the least, but the quality of writing (as well as acting) is simply superb. They're casting for this series was perfect.
I think the saddest thing about the show being cancelled is not getting to delve into the backstories of Shepherd Book (the one I want to see the most) as well as Inara. Wash dying was absolutely stunning especially with Book already being gone. As far as River being a superhero now though, I'd have no fear that they'd find a suitable workaround for that. Heck, she's already had episodes where she has nearly offed a few of the crew as it is, so her expanding abilities may lead to more tension in that manner as I'd seriously doubt that her mental state has improved all that much yet.
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You're absolutely right about that 4th season of Angel. It was definitely a low point. The whole evil/pregnant Cordelia thing sucked. Connor sucked. The Jasmine thing was god awful. It was horrible. I felt they rebounded pretty nicely in Season 5. Spike was a good addition. I really liked the final episode.
While Firefly's short run did make it hard for them to screw it up (as happened with Angel and Buffy), it's amazing how well the show hit its stride from the very first episode. I can't think of too many shows that had such a strong first season ("Lost", I think, is one). While the first seasons of Buffy and Angel were good, both shows didn't really find their "groove" until a bit later on in their runs. That is definitely true for STNG. Firefly just hit it perfectly right out of the gate. That is what made all of its fans (the Browncoats) bemoan its loss so loudly. There was just so much potential there...
As for favorite moments, there are so many it's hard for me to chose. I loved the scene in the first episode where the Alliance guy had a gun to someone's (Kaylee? River?) head and was getting ready for a big stand off when Mal and the rest came back from the exchange and Mal casually walked into the ship, drew his gun, and blew the guy away without some much as a pause. In a similar vein, I loved in War Stories when Zoe comes into Niska's place to buy back Wash and Mal and Niska starts chuckling about how it's enough money for only one of them and just as he's about to break into his diablolical monologue about forcing Zoe to pick between her captain and husband, she cuts him off and points to Wash and says, "Him. You were going to make me choose, right?" There are so many other great moments.
My favorite episodes are probably "Ariel", "Out of Gas," and "War Stories."