Firefly (TV Series) The Train Job (2002) User Reviews

Incorect Episode Order for Whole Series - This is Episode 2

[kfletch-62001 · 8/10 · 24 March 2018]

The Dvd box set of this show and wiki, indicates that this is episode 2, not 1 as stated. While this may have been aired first, it was not intended to be the first episode. If you wish to watch the series in order, imdb episode 11 (Serenity) is the first episode. Would be nice if imdb could update the series order to the correct listing.

The show is great and its a shame it didn't get another few seasons. The film Serenity at least brings some closure. The show makes more sense when viewed in the correct order.

The Train Heist

[claudio_carvalho · 8/10 · 17 October 2016]

Mal and his crew are hired by the dangerous criminal Adelai Niska to heist two packages from a train for him. He goes with Zoe and they find an Alliance troop in the train, but they succeed and Jayne takes the cargo to Serenity. However Mal and Zoe have to stay in the train and Sheriff Bourne investigates the robbery. Soon they learn that the stolen cargoes are medical supplies for the mining settlers that need them; otherwise they will die. Mal and Zoe reevaluate the heist and come up to a decision.

"The Train Job" is a full of action episode of "Firefly". The cynical Mal proves that has heart with his final decision. The funniest moment of the show is when Crow tells that will hunt Mal down to hell. My vote is eight.

Title (Brazil): Not Available.

Firefly Pilot: Take Two.

[Son_of_Mansfield · 7/10 · 28 October 2007]

The second pilot of Firefly probably made executives very happy, it's a watered down version of the first pilot that is more serviceable to the general public. Is it bad? No, it just doesn't have the same life as the real pilot. It goes over some of the same ground and feels almost like an opening episode of another season, just to refresh your memory. The best thing about it is that it introduces Adelei Nishka, a character that I think would have played a larger part in the whole of the series. He is one of those men who will do anything to get what he wants and hides his rough edges behind a mask of eloquence. There are decent cameos by Gregg Henry and Tom Towles and a good story about the crew stealing medical supplies only to have second thoughts once they find out about the village that needs them. The best thing about this episode is the best thing about the series, the chemistry between the big cast. The worst part, the people who were subjected to the out of order episode running missed the true beginning of the series.

Action Railway Style

[piratecat-2 · 10/10 · 30 December 2006]

OK, this show Firefly was a great show that got screwed over by fox. Premiting show times, moving show times, and most important not showing the pilot first. Train job was the first aired. This is out of sequence. Serenity pilot should have been the first aired. So fox who didn't like the pilot wanted a more A team approach so this was written in literally in a weekend. Its still a quality job done by the firefly boys. A western railroad train heist in the spirit of Ole Jesse James Gang except ya have a space ship coming down on a hyper train riding on air in arid type planet of the future. The crew of Serenity on the wrong side of the law perform a heist on a train in military fashion. With a sheriff who is fair and extremely upset that what is stolen is medicine for his small mining town. The crew of the firefly transport working for a gangster are remorseful and give it back. But now the motley crew has to deal with the gangster's hench men.

The second pilot

[Tweekums · 10/10 · 27 January 2010]

Having decided they didn't like the original pilot the people at FOX asked for another and this is what we got. Thankfully not too long is wasted explaining who is who and we are soon in to the story proper. Needing a job Mal approaches a rather unpleasant character called Adelei Niska. He hires them to steal an unspecified cargo from a train and makes it clear that failure to deliver will have serious consequences. The caper doesn't go quite according to plan because there is a squad of Alliance troops on board the train, they get the cargo of the train but Jayne ends up with a bullet in his leg and Mal and Zoe are left on the train. When they get to the next stop they are interviewed by the local sheriff and are disturbed to learn that they have stolen vital medical supplies. Back on Serenity Jayne wants to take the cargo to Niska's men but the others disagree and when Simon gives him a pain killer for his wound he gives a large enough dosage to knock Jayne out. After Inara has rescued Mal and Zoe they do the right thing even though it leads to a confrontation with Niska's men.

While slightly less dark then the original pilot this episode was a lot of fun and introduces the characters in a way that doesn't seem like a rehash of how it was done previously. We are clearly shown that while our heroes are quite happy to operate outside the law they won't do so at the expense of those even worse off than themselves. The robbery itself was very impressive with Jayne being lowered from Serenity as it flies over a high speed maglev type train. As well as the great main cast the supporting cast did a good job, particularly Michael Fairman as Niska and Gregg Henry as the sheriff.

Off and running

[Fluke_Skywalker · 8/10 · 8 March 2018]

Plot; A seemingly simple job to steal two crates from a train becomes much more complicated when the crew discover what's inside them.

Originally aired as the pilot episode, this wouldn't have made a lick of sense w/o having seen the actual pilot (which I almost decided to skip and save for the end to preserve how they originally aired). I mean you can sorta follow the story on the margins. Understand the basics. But the characters, their circumstances and the galactic politics (not even fully fleshed out in the pilot, but I suppose that's on purpose) would've left you scratching your head.

Anyway, what's here is quite good. That whole Western in space motif is pushed to the max w/an actual train robbery and yet another planet w/an arid, Western-style environment, but as I said before, that's okay w/me. Though initially it seemed like the episode was going to struggle to include the Firefly's passengers in any significant way, it finds a way to cleverly and compellingly bring everyone into the story.

The Train Job

[skullfire-96621 · 10/10 · 23 December 2022]

The Train Job is an action packed episode, with a heart-warming conclusion. Plenty has already been mentioned of the out sequence scheduling of the episodes, fortunately, even if viewed out of order, this does not diminish the quality of show.

I understand that some people do not like the basic premise of this classic, we cannot like the same things all of the time.

I immediately fell in love with this show, I like westerners, sci-fi and pirates, and I believe this to be an excellent combination of these genres.

The casting is perfect, the production quality hits the spot, but, most importantly, this is a very well conceived and written script.

The Train Job is a shining,(or "shiny"),example of this wonderful thought universe.

Better introduction than the Pilot !

[nicofreezer · 8/10 · 16 July 2022]

The Pilot was confusing and without explanations AT all. In " the train job " everything is explain in the 30 seconds intro, and the first 12-13 minutes are there to introduce the characters , something the Pilot Never did.

This episode was decent enough, a good 8/10 , but people need to seriously calm down, nothing in it is great or masterpiece level, it is just an average TV episode, like an episode of criminals minds or an episode of Buffy, good TV but not like Legendary shows quality ( breaking Bad.. x files , sopranos) So when i read all the 10/10 reviews its weird and funny at the same time... I dont really understand, the acting is fine but not at all brillant, plot is basic like in a good cop show you watch on sunday with your dad. Directing is basic. A show like this is 7/10 on IMDb usualy, i Hope im wrong with the next episodes but I dont think so. Its a good show to watch in the afternoon.

4/23/2022

[awbusa · 10/10 · 24 April 2022]

- now I know why this series failed , because of the unnecessary random use of CHINESE that the characters speak for no reason whatsoever - some episodes are good but the use of CHINESE is annoying -

Not a bad ep in itself but feels cheap in comparison to it's predecessor

[Joxerlives · 5/10 · 27 December 2011]

The good; We see a more moral side to the Serenity crew and love the face-off between Jayne and the others without Mal around.

The bad; The sick bay design is rather stupid, wouldn't you want some privacy rather than all those windows for people to see in? No one notices Serenity flying alongside the train?

Notches on the Serenity bedpost; Inarra;1-a paying customer who wishes to make her his kept woman Wash; 1-the missus Zoe; 1-the hubby

Capt subtext; Mal talks of'being on the edge' then 'moving towards the middle', possibly alluding to the frontier and the central planets. Innara and Kaylee have a big girly hair-stroking session (how the Summer's girls on Buffy used to express physical affection for one another). Inarra remarks to Kaylee "We could experiment". Mal seems keen on the idea and refers to Inarra 'servicing the crew' but she dismisses that as his 'lonely pathetic dreams'. Summer points out that Mal=Bad in Latin/French. Mal tells Zoe he loves her but it's all part of their cover(?)

Happy high-class hookers in Space (the title the porn industry wished they'd thought of!); Kaylee seems fascinated by the details of Inarra's profession. Inarra claims a companion gets to pick and choose her clients which I think is about as realistic and truthful as the Dollhouse staff pretending to themselves that they don't hire the Actives out as sexual submissives. Mal still needles Inarra about her hooking but does so more subtly and less nastily than he did in 'Serenity'. The nature of the companions work is left very vague here, if you hadn't seen Serenity you wouldn't know exactly what her job is, she could be a beautician. Inarra enjoys turning the tables on Mal, pretending he's her indentured man (some form of community service in the future?).

Questions and observations; We now know the war ended 6 years ago. Inarra has been on the ship 8 months. Here we have a much more upbeat, likable Mal, perhaps the events of Serenity mellowed him? He even says 'It's the right thing to do'. Book refers to the 'Fuzzy wuzzies' referring to Kiplings poems concerning the Sudan campaign Britain fought against Islamic fundamentalists in C19th (and we're still doing it today!). What is the chain of command on Serenity? It seems to go Mal, Zoe, Jayne, Wash, after that anyone's guess. Note Mal doesn't kill the Fed on the train, just knocks him out. Joss refers to Inarra and Mal as Beatrice and Benedict from 'Much ado about nothing', check out the Kenneth Branagh version for the Beatrice and the Duke (Denzel Washington) proposal scene alone. Joss refers to Firefly as Star Trek;TNG dark underbelly, much as what was explored in DS;9. Marks out of 10; 5 out of ten, nowhere near as good as Serenity, not a bad ep in itself but feels cheap in comparison to it's predecessor, like Charmed to Buffy.

Is this a western in space

[lopezpatricia-06139 · 1/10 · 17 September 2019]

I can't imagine these two genres coming together, in fact the western soundtrack is already hacking me off.