Though for some odd reason I seem to skip this episode in personal re-watches, there are a number of parts to it that make it great – not the least of which is the official introduction of each beloved character’s history. That’s probably why most GWCers list this among their favorite episodes.
If nothing else, I’d re-watch this any day just for the bit showing how Kaylee joined the crew. 
One of the reasons I love this episode–beyond the obvious ones–is the music. It captures the deep connections between the characters (including Serenity herself), the profound sadness they feel in contemplation of losing each other, and Mal experiencing the loneliness of Serenity without her crew.
Mal (about Wash): Great, ain’t he?
Zoe: I don’t like him…
Chuck, chuck, and chuck, I am sorry to say that I completely disagree with this analysis of Out of Gas. While this episode is in your bottom three of firefly episodes, this episode is in my top three. It might have to do with the fact that certain people like the lighter episodes, while others like the darker episode (Janyestown, while I love it, might be my third least favorite episode…but like you said saying a episode of firefly is the worst, just means it was the worst part of a night of well………sex lol)
I love this episode for its flashbacks. I also love how there are three different stories going on. I love the directing. I love Wash’s mustache, and I love the fact that Zoey did not like him at first. I love how they all come back to save Mal’s life. I love Kayle’’s introduction. I loved the fight between Wash and Mal. In other words…I just love this episode.
I know I have mentioned this elsewhere, but this is my favorite episode, with Objects in Space coming in a very close second.
This is an uncomprimising narrative…the lead character is bleeding to death from a stomach wound as we are introduced to the present, the recent past and the foundation of the relationships and the show itself.
I can go on and on about this show, but what I realized recently in thinking about how there is a fairly interesting split between those who are in the “Our Mrs. Reynolds/Trash/Shindig” camp and the “Objects in Space/Out of Gas” camp…what is interesting to me on reflection is that this is exactly what Battlestar doesn’t have. From a narrative perspective Battlestar is squarely in the “Objects in Space/Out of Gas” camp and only very occasionally goes to the “Our Mrs. Reynolds/etc” space.
In many ways I respect that. Battlestar is about the apocalypse of society and holocaust of humanity with an unrelenting enemy…not material that lends itself to a, “Everybody love Raymond” episode.
However, I think it is fairly clear from the ratings that over time people became tired of being smashed in the face with “everything is awful” over and over again. It raises an interesting question: Does BSG fail because it never compromised in providing gritty realistic stories? Is the artist creating the work for themself or their audience?
I know we all look back on the Blackbird episode and smile fondly as being the one exception to this. The question does stay with me…would BSG been more successful (and by success I mean reach and maintain a certain level of audience) if they had created more of a mix in their stories? I don’t mean influse slapstick, I mean bring back some humanity…bring back some humor, some hope.
In part this is why I love Out of Gas so much…the contrast it brings to the whole show. It deepens the story while reinforcing it. This is sci-fi at its best.
Very interesting. I’m very much in the OiS/OoG camp (my reaction to Jaynestown is almost exactly Chuck’s reaction to OoG.)
That may well have something to do with BSG’s ratings slump. Despite the occasional humor, it’s a pretty relentlessly grim show. The result of their attempt at MASH style humor (Taking a Break…) is a case in point.
Out of Gas is also on my favorites list. It blends the humor and the darkness of the series into one package. Certainly, OoG isn’t the only episode to do this, but I think it achieves it SO well. First of all, Kaylee’s introduction to the crew is just awesome. But the episode gets so quickly to the heart of all the characters- who they are and what makes them tick- that I can’t help but love it. Also, I really love at the end the little reveal about how the salesman wasn’t talking about Serenity at all, but a different ship- that Mal saw something there that no one else did.
I didn’t fall in love with Firefly until Out of Gas. definitely one of my favorite-favorites.
as a side note, I’m not sure if I’ve seen another show/movie that does a dual timeline flashback thing like we see in Out of Gas. anybody?
I absolutely love this episode. I’m one of those people that absolutely love both the really funny episodes and the really serious ones. My favorite moment in this episode is after Mal wakes up and everyone is back - he’s about to doze off again and he starts awake and says,
“You all gonna be here when I wake up?”
Book says, “we’ll be here,”
And Mal says, as he falls asleep, “Good. That’s good”
I just love the way he says it - all vulnerable. He needs those people…they are his family. Mal is always trying to act so tough and I love those moments when he shows that he’s all heart.
See here is the thing this episode is almost perfectly constructed, the flashbacks, it starts with them all together, around dinner table, and than rips them apart from each other in the current time frame, and over the course of the episode show how they were originally came together as family, and by the time it had ended, the family had come back together. (I hope that actually made the least bit of sense)
And the thing that got me was the shuttle’s returning, not to save him or because they saw a way to survive, but simply to come back; so Mal wouldn’t die alone. A Rarely told story. Point, it wasn’t to save the day or just so the family you saw created and broken apart and came back together to die, together, them surviving was pretty much just luck. (Which equals Awesome)
All that said I’ve got to go with chuck on this, its almost perfect but somehow it felt like a formal exercise rather than a story to me.
This should be technically the best episode to firefly, if I were just reading scripts this is the best, but just for me something just went a wrong.
And by wrong I mean I enjoyed it; I watched it; I like it; hell I love it cause I love all of firefly, but still in my coconut something didn’t hit home.
OK, oddball theory here, but humor me. My theory is this: Everyone who loves “Sex Lies and Videotape” and “Pulp Fiction” loves “Out of Gas” (and vis versa.)
Amirite?
BSG does this all the time…and can probably be attributed to Firefly influence. Most recently the movie Razor used this structure.
Your probably right, cause to me pulp fiction, was fine but not what most thought it was. (never saw Sex lies and videotape)
see call me picky but the flash and coolness of changing time periods, to tell a story, just ain’t enough to get by.
Every party needs a pooper after all and apparently thats me
but Still i like it.
BSG does this all the time…and can probably be attributed to Firefly influence. Most recently the movie Razor used this structure.
Doesn’t Lost do this every episode?
huh. two shows that are right in front of me all the time and I didn’t even think of them. :rolleyes:
oh, and I’ve never seen Sex, Lies, and Videotape, and I didn’t like Pulp Fiction.
does that seem right to you?
Wow, I had the complete opposite reaction to OoG and Jaynestown than Sean… which is bound to happen sometime, I guess. According to Joss, Firefly is about 9 different people looking out into the black and seeing something different. We are all entitled to our own perceptions.
Back to OoG, allow me to add a verse to the many praises that have been already sung in this thread. You want goof-ball comedy? How about Mal and Wash arguing about how to boost the signal? Mal makes his case to Wash who he yells back “Well, I guess I should do that then!” and what about Jayne admonishing then for yelling…“you’re gonna use up all the oxygen.” Oh Jayne… But we have our heartwreanching moments to… the long good bye between Mal and Inara, she was the last to board her ship, and the last to take her eyes off Mal. And what about the button! The Button! I heard some rumor that at the cast party at the end of the series they gave Joss the button, so he could call them all back. I don’t know if that’s true, but just thinking about it now gets me choked up.
I didn’t see the flashbacks as a mere device, but crucial to the arc of the story. The sepia and blue tones were gorgeous. It will always be my favorite. In fact I have a running list of all around TV favorite episodes and right now OoG is number 2, behind Alias’s Phase One and infront of BSG’s Downloaded… with last night’s Lost (The Constant) providing serious competition.
My favorite Firefly episode here. Also, I loved Pulp Fiction, so maybe it’s true.
I like how this episode showed how everyone got on the ship, and how important the ship was to Mal. Basically, it became his anchor after the war, and as we see, he would rather die than leave it. Similarly, Mal’s crew feels the same way about him—despite whatever they might say—and that’s pretty important, because at its’ heart, Firefly is really about a family trying to survive. Something we can all relate to.
Did anyone else think it was slightly out of character at first for Kaylee to be having sex in the engine room with the random hot mechanic?
It did strike me as a bit odd the first time through, although it’s hard to say anything is ‘out of character’ when we’ve only had a dozen episodes to develop said character.
Given her line about, um, batteries in the Movie…