Objects in Space

"Objects in Space" is the 14th episode of the science fiction television series Firefly. It was the 10th episode to premiere on Fox during the series' original broadcast and aired on Friday, December 13, 2002, one day after the network announced the show's cancellation. Serenity encounters Jubal Early, a ruthless professional bounty hunter who will stop at nothing to retrieve River. But River, feeling unwelcome on the ship, takes a novel approach to escaping from the long arm of the Alliance. The inspiration for this episode came from Tim Minear, who gave Whedon the idea by merely mentioning Boba Fett. Whedon expanded upon the suggestion and extrapolated it into the villain of this episode, the "preternaturally cool, nearly psychotic bounty hunter" Jubal Early. Whedon has said that if he were forced to pick one piece of work to represent his entire body of work, he would pick this episode. River's and Early's tactile and spiritual connection with physical objects reflects an existential experience in Whedon's youth and his subsequent study of Jean-Paul Sartre's existential novel Nausea. Despite being placed as the final episode on the home video releases, it was the tenth episode produced and was intended to take place before "Trash" and "The Message".

"Objects in Space" is the 14th episode of the science fiction television series Firefly. It was the 10th episode to premiere on Fox during the series' original broadcast and aired on Friday, December 13, 2002, one day after the network announced the show's cancellation. Serenity encounters Jubal Early, a ruthless professional bounty hunter who will stop at nothing to retrieve River. But River, feeling unwelcome on the ship, takes a novel approach to escaping from the long arm of the Alliance. The inspiration for this episode came from Tim Minear, who gave Whedon the idea by merely mentioning Boba Fett. Whedon expanded upon the suggestion and extrapolated it into the villain of this episode, the "preternaturally cool, nearly psychotic bounty hunter" Jubal Early. Whedon has said that if he were forced to pick one piece of work to represent his entire body of work, he would pick this episode. River's and Early's tactile and spiritual connection with physical objects reflects an existential experience in Whedon's youth and his subsequent study of Jean-Paul Sartre's existential novel Nausea. Despite being placed as the final episode on the home video releases, it was the tenth episode produced and was intended to take place before "Trash" and "The Message". ==Themes== In the DVD commentary Joss Whedon explains that this episode is intended to resolve the crew's tension regarding River, ending with their acceptance of her as a valuable member of the crew. Whedon struggled with various ideas of how to approach the script until Tim Minear gave him the idea of using a bounty hunter. ===Existentialism=== As Whedon discloses in the DVD commentary, much of the dialogue and imagery was inspired by Jean-Paul Sartre, especially his novel Nausea. In his essay We're All Just Floating in Space, Lyle Zynda analyzes this episode's interpretation of existential meaninglessness, arguing that both River and Early perceive physical objects as divorced from the meanings with which others imbue them. For example, when River picks up the gun, she sees it as a harmless branch—an object, as she says, that "doesn't mean what you think"—transformed by her perspective into a benign thing of beauty. Early likewise describes his gun as "pretty" with a pleasing weight (both features separate from its function) yet acknowledges that its design aids its intended use, which Whedon describes as "grotesque". While moving through the ship, both River and Early seem to be acutely aware of and derive sensual pleasure from their environment, stroking the walls, conscious of the physicality of their surroundings. Whedon notes in the DVD commentary that one of the ways he illustrated this quality was to keep the camera focused on River's bare feet as she walked. Early, admiring specifics of the ship's design, significantly echoes the episode's title when he says, "People don't appreciate the substance of things. Objects in space." It is the "physical implication" of a world without morals, the moral implication of which was verbalized by another of Whedon's creations, Angel: "If nothing we do matters, then all that matters is what we do." Zynda argues that ultimately, River and Early's ability to experience objects divorced from their common meanings allows them to imbue those objects with a value of their choosing. Whereas River chooses a perspective that brings joyful wonder, Early chooses to contemplate those same objects with despair. Early enacts one of Sartre's central ideas, the concept of "bad faith", when he denies his responsibility for his actions by claiming he is not free to do otherwise. When River accuses him of hurting people, he counters, "It's part of the job." She replies, "It's why you took the job."

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